Rights of the Woman

Traditionally it is the woman who takes up the husband’s surname upon marriage but this need not be the case.  Today more and more couples are deciding not taking the traditional route of changing their names upon marriage.

Traditional Option 

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

Taking Your Husband's Surname

This is the traditional approach and the wife takes on her husband’s surname forfeiting her maiden name. If the name change from the unmarried maiden name to the new married name is done on or shortly after marriage, then the marriage certificate acts as sufficient proof to get this done. If you leave it a while before changing your name then you may need a Deed Poll document to prove that you have changed your name and taken on a new name, your new surname.

Upon marriage it is usual for the wife to take on the married title of Mrs. A woman can use the marriage certificate as evidence of changing your maiden name to her married name. The marriage certificate also acts as evidence to allow her to change her title from Miss or Ms to Mrs to denote the married status of the woman.

If a woman wishes to change her surname from the maiden name to the married surname but to retain her title as Miss or Ms she can do so and it is not necessary for her to change her title due to the marriage, even though this is often the customary thing to do.

Likewise a non-married woman if she is in a relationship may decide to change her title to Mrs without necessarily having to get married.

The Non Traditional Routes:

The untraditional options for the woman, which though not common, are increasingly becoming more frequent, and these break with traditional norms are:

• The woman shares her surname in some capacity with that of her husband. One such example is by the wife and husband creating a double-barrel surname, i.e. hyphenating the two surnames, incorporating both the woman’s and man’s surname.
• The wife and husband 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 wife and husband incorporate each others surnames into their own name. This is done whilst the woman still retains her own surname. The husband’s surname is incorporated into the woman’s existing name without hyphenating or meshing.
• The woman leaves her surname as it is before the marriage and does not change her name upon marriage.
• The woman shares her surname in some capacity with that of her husband. One such example is by the wife and husband creating a double-barrel surname, i.e. hyphenating the two surnames, incorporating both the woman’s and man’s surname.

Double-Barrel Names

If you decide to share your husband’s surname by hyphenating his surname with yours, you would create a double-barrel surname. This double-barrel surname consists of both the husband’s and the wife’s surnames and these surnames 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 husband 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.

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. 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, two separate parts becoming one.

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 wife and husband 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.

Embedding Your Husband's Name into Your Own

In this the woman may decide to retain her maiden name and take her husband’s surname and incorporate it into her own name, whilst still retaining her own maiden name, i.e. her surname. She may also decide that she wants to keep her maiden name and add her husband’s name as the new married name thereby keeping her existing full name whilst adding her husband’s name at the end of her name, making it the new surname. This would embed her maiden name, allowing her to retain it. Also the husband may take his wife’s maiden name and incorporate it into his name, embedding her name into his own, whilst both couples take the husband’s surname as the married name.

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 wife and husband incorporate each others surnames into their own name. This is done whilst the woman still retains her own surname. The husband’s surname is incorporated into the woman’s existing name without hyphenating or meshing.

Retain Your Existing Surname

If the woman decides to keep her maiden name, then she can do so upon marriage and there is no reason why she must change her maiden name and take on her husband’s surname to show that she is married. There may be cultural reason why she is expected to take on her husband’s surname, that notwithstanding, she can continue to use her maiden name even after marriage. Some cultures encourage a woman to keep her maiden name, such as Islam which encourages women to retain their existing family name, whilst the children born from the marriage take on the father’s name to denote their lineage. In traditional Judaeo-Christian cultures the norm is for the woman to change her name upon marriage and take on her husband’s surname. The children also take on their father’s surname to show their lineage and family heritage.

If a woman decides to retain her maiden name she can still change her title to reflect her marriage status from Miss to Mrs. A woman does not need to take on her husband’s surname on marriage to start using the married title and she can retain her maiden name and still get the title changed to Mrs. If this is done at the time of marriage or very shortly after that then the marriage certificate acts as proof allowing you to change your married status title. If this is done sometime afterwards then you may need a Deed Poll document to change your title from Miss/Ms to Mrs.

• The woman leaves her surname as it is before the marriage and does not change her name upon marriage.

Deed Poll to Change Your 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. They also allow you to remove any part of your existing names. You can even change your title from Miss to Ms to Mrs or from Mrs to Ms or Miss. You do not need to be married or single to use these titles.