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Changing Surnames For Women
Do you take a surname of your husband every time you get married? If you have already done this several times, have the multiple changes of the surname had any impact on your life?
If you divorce, would you stay under your husband's surname or take your maiden one again?
Do you need sometimes to prove your maiden name and your kinship to your parents for authorities? Is it easy in your country to collect papers for it, if you have had multiple changes of the surname?
Sep 23, 2019 8:25 AM
Comments · 23
3
Aud,
My approach as an American has been a little different. My first marriages were to men from Mexico. I never changed my surname. We named the children in a way that followed somewhat in line with using two last names in Mexico. The children both have a given name, the father's last name is their middle name, and they have my last name. This worked out well when I divorced so that we had the same last name. In my current marriage, my husband encouraged me to hyphenate my name due to my career. I offered to take his name and he insisted I keep mine for professional reasons. So that actually worked out well when dealing with the children, because school officials could see the name association with my current husband and the children.
As the others have said it is a matter of preference and cultural norms.
September 23, 2019
3
Logic, Som?
"What's logic got to do with it?" (to paraphrase Tina Turner)
We can tell you're a scientist :)
September 23, 2019
3
Interesting question, Aud. To be honest, I've never thought about it! I think it depends on the culture. People tend to do whatever is normal within their social group.
Women from more traditional working class backgrounds often want to change their names, and that's what their husbands and families would expect. So yes, I would imagine that the average lager-drinking football fan might be offended if his 'missus' chose not to use his surname.
Meanwhile, a middle-class muesli-munching chap wouldn't mind at all. He might even expect it, given that many of the women he knows from his university and his workplace probably also kept their own surnames.
As you know, most things in England come down to class and education.
September 23, 2019
2
In the US, there can be quite a bit of paperwork involved in changing one’s name, especially for older spouses, but I’ve read it’s still the choice of around 80% of brides. As far is it being an issue of “class” I don’t have any statistics but I don’t think that’s a big factor here. I’d guess it’s more related to regional variation/culture/family.
September 24, 2019
2
Engineer, Su.Ki. You got the general idea, no logic leaves me confounded like Mr. Spock 😊
September 23, 2019
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