New bride name change

hi i am a new bride from connecticut and was wondering about the whole name change bit. I am of hispanic descent and i wanted to use my maiden name and my husband's name separated by "de" to show relationship. eg: maria brown de smith. is this legal? the marriage certificate lists us with our own names before marriage. does it have to be written on the marriage certificate to be legal? I do not want to legally change my name. i have started using the new name on checks etc.
thank you

"de" means of or from. you should use a hyphen between the surnames.

New Bride name change

"de" also indicates a married woman with her husband's surname or usually where the person is "from" (in Spanish traditions, the name of the town etc). I know you can use a hyphen, but I chose not to do so, simply because my new name does not flow well with a hypen and secondly because after marriage the couple can choose whatever name he or she wants to use. There is no law that mandates what name a person uses after marriage (except for Hawaii where a woman has to use her husband's surname. Thanks for your help though.