The Rights of the Man

Although traditionally it is the woman who takes up the husband’s surname upon marriage, today more and more couples are deciding not taking the traditional route of changing the woman’s surname to her husband’s.

Traditional option:

The man leaves his surname as it is before the marriage and does not change his name.
The non-traditional options for the husband, which though not common, are increasingly becoming more frequent, and these break with traditional norms. They are:
The man shares the wife’s surname in some capacity such as by creating a double-barrel surname, i.e. hyphenating the two surnames, incorporating both the man’s and woman’s surname.
The husband and wife mesh their names together so as to create a new surname. The new name created incorporates a part of each person’s name and is normally the new surname.
The husband incorporates the wife’s surname into his name such as making it a part of his own name, whilst still retaining his own surname. Alternatively he may take both the surnames and incorporate them together without hyphenating or meshing.
The husband takes on the wife’s surname, forfeiting his own surname.

The Traditional Approach - Retain your Name

If you choose to retain your name as it is upon marriage then clearly you do not need to do anything.

Double-Barrel Names

If you as the husband decide to share your wife’s surname by hyphenating your wife’s and your surname, you would then create a double-barrel surname. This double-barrel surname consists of both your surname and that of your wife. These are separated by the ‘-‘ hyphen symbol. This allows the two surnames to be joined yet sufficiently separate to be easily distinguishable, a sort of union of two equal halves. This is certainly more common today than it has been in the past. Another interesting trend we have noticed is towards hyphenating the first names instead of the surname.

Once you and your wife have decided upon having a double-barrel surname, you will need to determine what the order of the two surnames should be. A common way of deciding is to see what order sounds better, some combination orders are better sounding than others, but ultimately it is a personal choice between the husband and wife.

The marriage certificate would allow you to take on a double-barrel surname if this is done on marriage or soon after it. All government departments, organisations and companies will accept the marriage certificate as evidence of change of name to a double-barrel surname. However non-government companies and organisations such as banks, building societies and other such financial institutions may refuse to accept the marriage certificate as sufficient evidence for this non-traditional choice of name change upon marriage. To satisfy such organisations you may need a Deed Poll document to provide documentary evidence of change of name to a double-barrel one. Additionally if some time has lapsed from marriage to you deciding upon the double-barrel name you will require a Deed Poll document.

The man shares the wife’s surname in some capacity such as by creating a double-barrel surname, i.e. hyphenating the two surnames, incorporating both the man’s and woman’s surname.

Meshed Names

Meshing as the word implies is the fusion or intertwining of husband and wife’s names to create a new name. Unlike the double-barrel approach where both surnames are joined yet separate, easily distinguishable, meshing combines the two surnames into a completely new surname, a bit like creating a new identity incorporating both partners, 2 separate subparts creating a new unit. One example of this would be Brangelina (Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie) and the second would be “Bennifer” (Ben Affleck & Jennifers Garner). A more common and less star studded example would be something like George CROWE and Jane NEWMAN becoming George and Jane CROMAN. Alternatively both George and Jane could decide to keep their current names and simply add the new meshed name to become George Crowe CROMAN and Jane Newman CROMAN. This would allow both George and Jane to keep their old names and use the new meshed surname as a symbol of two people coming together and becoming a new family unit, the two separate parts becoming the new unit.

The marriage certificate would allow you to take on a meshed surname if this is done on marriage or soon after it. All government departments, organisations and companies will accept the marriage certificate as evidence of change of name to a meshed surname. However non-government companies and organisations such as banks, building societies and other such financial institutions may refuse to accept the marriage certificate as sufficient evidence for this non-traditional choice of name change upon marriage. To satisfy such organisations you may need a Deed Poll document to provide documentary evidence of change of name to a meshed name. Additionally if some time has lapsed from marriage to you deciding upon the new meshed name you will require a Deed Poll document.

The husband and wife mesh their names together so as to create new name. The new name created incorporates a part of each person’s name and becomes the new surname.

Embedding Your Wife's Name into Your Own

In this the man may take his wife’s surname and incorporate it into his own name, whilst still retaining his own name. When this is done the husband normally incorporates or embeds the wife’s surname into his own as a middle name, whilst still retaining his other names including his surname.

The marriage certificate would allow you to take on an embedded name if this is done on marriage or soon after it. All government departments, organisations and companies will accept the marriage certificate as evidence of change of any part of your name to an embedded name. However non-government companies and organisations such as banks, building societies and other such financial institutions may refuse to accept the marriage certificate as sufficient evidence for this non-traditional choice of name change upon marriage. To satisfy such organisations you may need a Deed Poll document to provide documentary evidence of change of any part of your name to an embedded name. Additionally if some time has lapsed from marriage to you deciding upon the new embedded name you will require a Deed Poll document.

The husband incorporates the wife’s surname into his name such as making it a part of his own name, whilst still retaining his own surname. Alternatively he may take both the surnames and incorporate them together without hyphenating or meshing.

Taking Your Wife's Surname

The husband abandons his surname and takes on the surname of his wife. This is quite rare, but it does happen. Certainly if a man does not like his surname or wants to be a member of his wife’s family this would be a good option. Some men have done this to show their love for their wife, and it is certainly different from the run of the mill approach. If the woman is willing to give up her surname for her husband, it should not be too much to ask him to do the same.

The marriage certificate would allow you to take on your wife’s maiden name as your married name, i.e. your new surname, if this is done on marriage or soon after it. All government departments, organisations and companies will accept the marriage certificate as evidence of change of your surname to that of your wife’s surname. However non-government companies and organisations such as banks, building societies and other such financial institutions may refuse to accept the marriage certificate as sufficient evidence for this non-traditional choice of name change upon marriage. To satisfy such organisations you may need a Deed Poll document to provide documentary evidence of change of your surname to that of your wife’s surname. Additionally if some time has lapsed from marriage to you deciding upon taking on your wife’s surname as your new surname, you will require a Deed Poll document.

The husband takes on the wife’s surname, forfeiting his own surname.

Deed Poll to Change Your Name or Title

Our Deed Poll documents allows you to change your any part of your name, add new names whether they are double-barrel name, meshed names or embedded name.

How much? - Kids Deed Poll