Married and maiden names
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A "maiden name" is the family name carried by a woman before marriage. A maiden name may be indicated using the word "née" (pronounced "nay", IPA: [ne:]), from the French word for "born", hence Margaret Hilda Thatcher née Roberts. A married name is the family name taken by a married person at the time of the marriage.
The term is ambiguous for those who changed their birth name before any marriages; therefore some prefer the term "birth name", which can also be used in the case of a man changing his name upon marriage.
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[edit] Customs relating to maiden names in heterosexual marriages
[edit] Europe and North America
[edit] Use husband's surname
Traditionally, in the U.S., women have assumed their new husband's surnames after marriage to him, although this was never legally required except in a couple of states in the U.S. Usually the children of the marriage are then given their father's surname, so that the mother's surname is not used by any of her descendants. Some areas have a custom of using the mother's maiden name as a given name for one of the children.
This practice means that women inherit their surname from their father, and change it to match their husband's. This has been criticised for a number of reasons: it can be construed as meaning the woman's father and then husband had control over her body and "brand" her with their names to signify that control or possession; and it means that lines of male descent are seen as primary, that a woman has no inherited name tying her to her female ancestors.
However, many women choose to retain their maiden names after marriage: either using it alone or as part of their name in conjunction with their husbands' surnames. Some people also use their married name in certain aspects of their lives (e.g., their personal and social lives), while using their maiden name in other instances (e.g. professionally).
[edit] Use maiden name
Women who keep their own surname after marriage may choose to do so for a number of reasons. Objection to the use of their husband's name for feminist reasons is one such reason, but there are others which may justify keeping their own name. Some women dislike undergoing the difficulties required in a legal name change. This process is expediated somewhat for newly married women in that their marriage certificate in combination with identification using their maiden name is usually accepted as evidence of the change, due to the widespread custom, but the process still requires approaching every contact who uses the old name and asking them to use the new. Unless the statutes where the marriage occurred specify that a name change may occur at marriage (in which case the marriage certificate indicates the new name), the courts have officially recognized that such a change is a result of the common law right of a person (man, woman, and sometimes child) to change their name. There were some early cases which held that under the common law, a woman was required to take her husband's name, but newer and better researched cases overturned those.
Other women simply prefer their own surname to that of their husband.
Where this practice is in the minority, a woman retaining her surname after marriage may encounter difficulties with having people correctly use her name, or in some cases recognising her marriage. Many people who know of the marriage will simply assume that she has the same surname as her husband and will use that name to introduce her and address her. Alternatively, people who are aware that she and her husband have different surnames may not realise that they are married.
Some women may retain use of their own surname under particular circumstances, and use their husband's surname in others. This is particularly common among women who have a professional career in which advancement depends on work associated with their name, such as an academic career. These women do not want to risk having their pre-marriage work no longer associated with them and may use their maiden name as their surname in professional dealings but use their husband's surname in social contexts. The American suffragist and abolitionist Lucy Stone (1818–1893), wife of Henry Brown Blackwell, made a national issue of the practice of taking a husband's surname as part of her efforts for women's rights in the U.S., and women who choose not to use their husbands' surnames have been called "Lucy Stoners" ever since.
Finally, many women, celebrities in particular, are so associated with their maiden name in the public that they prefer to keep it.
On the other hand there are countries where it is customary for a women to keep her own name. In many Civil Law countries women keep their own names for official purposes, but what name they use for social purposes vary. In The Netherlands married women will remain registered under their maiden name, but may choose to use their husband's name, or join both names. In Belgium a woman must use her maiden name for official purposes, and will use her maiden name for most private purposes too. In Germany the name law is ruled by sexual equality since 1994: the woman can adopt her husband's name or the man may adopt his wife's surname. One of them - man or woman - may use a combined name of both surnames. The remaining single name is the "family name": the name of the children.
[edit] Join both names
It is common for women, especially in the U.S. and Canada, to take their husband's name but put it after their birth name. For example, if "Kate Wilson" marries "John Smith", her name would become "Kate Wilson Smith" or "Kate Wilson-Smith". Sometimes both husband and wife will adopt the joint surname; whether the maiden name is placed first or second reflects personal preferences. In other cases, women will use their maiden name as a middle name (perhaps dropping their birth middle name) and use their husband's surname as their surname.
Most versions of the practice of women having a different surname from their husband face difficulties on the basis of problems about their own children's surname. Various alternatives are used:
- most commonly, children are given the surname of one parent, usually the father's;
- female children are given the mother's surname, and male children the father's; or
- children are given the hyphenated surname consisting of their mother's and father's surname.
This last practice may result in difficulty for the next generation, who have the surnames of all four grandparents to combine into a surname for their own children. One solution some couples have used when both spouses had hyphenated last names is for the wife to contribute her mother's name and the husband his father's to form a new hyphenated last name for themselves and their children.
[edit] The Spanish-speaking world
In Spain and in many Spanish-speaking countries, the practice is for people to have two surnames, a paternal and a maternal surname (their father's surname followed by their mother's surname). For example, Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's full name is "Pedro Almodóvar Caballero", Almodóvar being his father's surname and Caballero being his mother's surname.
In some Spanish-speaking countries (e.g. those in Latin America, though not in Spain), a woman marrying a man will often add her husband's surname to her father's surname using the "de" (of) preposition. For example, if "Clara Reyes Alba" were to marry "Alberto Gómez Rodriguez", the wife could use "Clara Reyes de Gómez" as her name (also "Clara Reyes Gómez" and rarely "Clara Gómez Reyes"). This form is mainly protocolar and usually doesn't require an official name change, i.e., legally, her name will still be her birth name.
Any children a couple have together take both surnames, so if the couple above had two children named "Andres" and "Ana", then their names would be "Andres Gómez Reyes" and "Ana Gómez Reyes". Sometimes, for single mothers or when the father wouldn't (or couldn't) recognize his child, the mother's surname has been used twice: for example, "Ana Reyes Reyes". In Spain, however, children with just one parent receive both surnames of that parent, although the order may be changed. For instance, a son of "Ana Gómez Reyes" would be "Adrián Gómez Reyes" or "Adrián Reyes Gómez". [1]
It should be noted that some Hispanic people drop their maternal surname (even if not formally), so as to better fit into the English-speaking or non-Hispanic society they live or work in.
[edit] Asia
[edit] China
Chinese women do not change their surnames after marriage. Although in earlier times women were expected to adopt the husband's surname which, in addition, was appended to her own surname along with the shi suffix, this tradition is no longer practiced in either China or Taiwan.
[edit] Korea
Korean women do not change their names upon marriage. By name alone, a woman cannot be identified as someone's wife. Neither are they addressed in fashion similar as 'Mrs. (Husband's family name)'. They are simply addressed by their family name; however, it is more specifically as 'wife of (Husband's family name)' when the relation has to be known. Women emigrating to cultures where it is customary to take on their husband's names may not choose to change, especially if they are professionals. However, they may let themselves be addressed as 'Mrs. (Husband's family name)' as well in addition to, for example, 'Dr. (her maiden name)'. As a side note, in the traditional family genealogy books, no female members are entered. Upon marriage, the husband's full name is entered. Whether this custom is changing together with the whole socio-economic fabric is yet to be verified.
[edit] Japan
In Japan, marriage law requires that legally married couples share a surname. It is customary for the wife to take her husband's surname. Though a husband is legally permitted to take his wife's surname, this is very rare. In the Japanese language it is common to avoid second and third person pronouns and instead refer to a person in conversation by their surname plus a title such as san (さん) or sama (様) which may indicate the relative rank, profession, or gender of the person but often not her marriage status (as in the English 'Mrs.' and 'Miss') . Many women who have well established careers or circles of friends may wish continue to be referred to by their maiden name after they marry in order to maintain continuity at work or among their acquaintances. However this is an informal practice not recognized by law, and a wife and husband may not use separate surnames in official settings. Although women's rights groups have attempted to introduce legislation that would allow married couples to maintain separate surnames, a practice which in Japanese is referred to as fūfu bessei (夫婦別姓, literally: 'husband-wife, different-surname'), such legislation has not yet been enacted. Another custom relates to situations where the wife's maiden name may end if she changes her name to her husband's name. In such situations and, particularly, where the wife's lineage may have some significance, the husband will adopt the wife's name as his own family name and the children will receive their mother's family name.
[edit] The Philippines
Christians (as well as certain Muslims, Chinese Filipinos, and others) in the Philippines have traditionally followed naming patterns practiced throughout the Spanish-speaking world; i.e., the practice of having the father's surname follow the mother's surname. However, this practice changed when the Philippines was a US colony in the early half of the 20th century.
Currently, the middle name is usually, though not always, the mother's maiden name followed by the father's surname. This is the opposite of what is done in Spanish-speaking countries and is similar to the way surnames are done in Brazil.
When a woman marries, she usually adopts the surname of her husband. When a woman whose full maiden name is Maria Santos Cojuangco marries a man by the name of Juan Agbayani, her full name would be Maria Santos Cojuangco Agbayani. For the sake of brevity, she would be usually known at the very least as Maria Agbayani; her mother's maiden name is usually not mentioned or it may be abbreviated as an initial. In many cases, her maiden name may be mentioned. Consequently, her children will have Cojuangco as a middle name.
It is uncommon for Filipino women to hyphenate their surnames. The most well-known example is Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
[edit] Other
A less common, but growing, alternative is for the married couple to create a new non-hyphenated name. This name may be a combination of letters from both surnames or it may be a new name altogether. This allows any children following on to have the same name and is equal in that both parties must give up their original surname. One possible criticism against this practice is that it makes families harder to trace via genealogy. In many countries, including the United States, a legal record must be filed in order to make this name change, which increases the level of complexity.
[edit] Same-sex marriages
The public and legal acceptance and acknowledgment of same-sex marriage is relatively recent. Trends in the nuptial naming practices associated with same-sex marriage have not yet been observed. LGBT and queer people may make such decisions on an individual basis.
Though some feminists have asserted that taking a marital name detracts from the individual worth of the spouses, some lesbian feminists choose to change their names. One possible reason, aside from tradition, is that taking a married name might serve as daily and public markers of the marital union and the rights afforded thereto.
[edit] Legal status and criticisms
Laws respecting married names vary. In areas whose legal systems derive from the English common law—such as most parts of the USA, Canada, and the UK—a name change usually does not require legal action, because a person can choose to be known by any name (except with intent to defraud); this is why authors, actors, and step-children, as well as married women, can adopt new names without taking any legal action. In many jurisdictions whose legal systems derive from the civil law—such as France, Spain, Belgium, the Canadian province of Quebec, and the U.S. state of Louisiana—however, the default position is for a woman's "legal name" to remain the same throughout life: Citizens there who wish to change their names legally must usually apply to do so via a formal procedure.
In 2007, Michael Buday and Diana Bijon enlisted the American Civil Liberties Union and filed a discrimination lawsuit against the state of California. According to ACLU, the obstacles facing a husband who wishes to adopt his wife's last name violate the equal protection clause provided by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.[1] At the time of the lawsuit, only states of Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota explicitly allow a man to change his name through marriage with the same ease as a woman. As a result of the lawsuit, a California state lawmaker introduced a bill to put a space on the marriage license for either spouse to change names.[2]
The term "maiden name" itself has been criticised by many American feminists since the 1970s. Those who find the traditional term unacceptable and even offensive say it demeans women by labeling them according to their sexual status ("maiden" is a synonym for "virgin"), and see this as a further sign of a maiden name being used to label a woman as sexual property of a man.
[edit] Genealogy
Most genealogists prefer to refer to a mother by her maiden name when they are constructing a pedigree, whether in chart form such as a family tree or in some written form. This convention is used because it is a concise way of presenting genealogical information. Thus they would write (or show on a pedigree chart) a child as e.g. the son of John Smith and Mary Brown .
However, some novices might describe the child as eg the son of John Smith and Mary Smith or perhaps as the son of John Smith and Mary Smith née Brown.
