Maiden and married names
When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used as a gender-neutral or masculine substitute for maiden name), whereas a married name is a family name or surname adopted upon marriage.
"De domo" redirects here. For other uses, see De domo (disambiguation).
In some jurisdictions, changing names requires a legal process. When people marry or divorce, the legal aspects of changing names may be simplified or included, so that the new name is established as part of the legal process of marrying or divorcing. Traditionally, in the Anglophone West, women are far more likely to change their surnames upon marriage than men, but in some instances men may change their last names upon marriage as well, including same-sex couples.[1]
In this article, birth name, family name, surname, married name and maiden name refer to patrilineal surnames unless explicitly described as referring to matrilineal surnames.
Europe[edit]
Austria[edit]
In Austria, since 1 April 2013, marriage does not automatically change a woman's name; therefore a name change can only take place upon legal application. Before that date, the default was for a married woman's name to be changed to that of her husband, unless she legally applied to opt out of this.[46]
France[edit]
In France, by executive decision since 2011[47] and by law since 2013,[48] any married person may officially use their spouse's name as a common name by substituting or compounding it to their own. Before this it was common for married women to use their husband's name in everyday life, but this had no legal recognition.
A common name does not replace a person's family name as written on their birth certificate.
From 4 March 2002 to 4 December 2009, children given both parents' names had to have them separated by a double dash (ex: Dupont--Clairemont). On 4 December 2009, the Conseil d'État ruled that a space can be used instead of the double dash. As a result, forms asking for the choice of family name for a child (nom de famille) do so on two lines ("1ère partie: ..... ", "2e partie: ....")[49]
Germany[edit]
In Germany, since 1977, a woman may adopt her husband's surname or a man may adopt his wife's surname. As an alternative, one of them may adopt a name combined from both surnames; the remaining unchanged surname is the "family name" (Ehename), which will be the surname of the children. If a man and woman both decide to keep and use their birth names after the wedding (no combined name), they shall declare one of those names the "family name". A combined name is not possible as a family name, but, since 2005, it has been possible to have a double name as a family name if one already had a double name, and the partner adopts that name. Double names then must be hyphenated. All family members must use that double name.[50][51]
Greece[edit]
Since 1983, when Greece adopted a new marriage law which guaranteed gender equality between the spouses,[52] women in Greece are required to keep their birth names for their whole lives.[53]
Italy[edit]
Spouses keep their original surnames. According to the Italian Civil Code (article 143 bis), a woman who marries keeps her surname and has the option of adding her husband's surname after hers. Non-Italian citizens getting married in Italy will not have their surname changed in Italy. However, brides or grooms can request their surname change in their home country.[54]
Netherlands[edit]
In the Netherlands, persons who have been married in the Netherlands or entered into a registered partnership will remain registered under their birth name. They are, however, permitted to use their partner's last name for social purposes or join both names. Upon marriage or registered partnership, one may also indicate how one would like to be addressed by registering one's choice at the Municipal Basis Administration (Basisregistratie Personen), although their birth name does not change. One may choose to be called by one's own name, one's partner's name, one's own name followed by one's partner's name (hyphenated), or one's partner's name followed by their own name (hyphenated; this was the prevailing convention up to very recently. In this case the maiden name following the hyphen only uses a capital if it is a noun; if it is an affix like van or de the affix remains uncapitalized; this is an exception to the general rule for surnames that are capitalized when standing alone[55]). Both men and women may make this choice upon registering to get married or entering into a registered partnership. If the marriage or registered partnership ends, one may continue to use the ex-partner's last surname unless the ex-partner disagrees and requests the court to forbid the use of the ex-partner's surname.[56]
Before the birth or adoption of a first child, married parents may choose the child's surname (mother's or father's but not both). If no choice is made, the child automatically bears the father's surname. Any further children will also go by this name. If the parents are not married, the children will automatically have their mother's name unless otherwise indicated.[57]
Portugal[edit]
Wives usually append the family name of their spouse to their legal name, although there is a recent trend of women keeping their maiden names.[58] Following Portuguese naming customs, a person's name consists of a given name (simple or composite) followed by two family names (surnames), the mother's and the father's. Any children whom a couple have together, take both second-surnames.
Russia[edit]
There is a widespread, though not universal, custom for a newly married wife to adopt the husband's family name. However, as Russia is not a common law country, any name change requires a formal procedure including an official application to the civil acts registrar. As the same registrar also records marriages, for the convenience sake it is often done during the marriage proceedings, as governed by the Federal Law #143-FZ "On Civil State Acts", and the couple's marriage certificate has an option of having one common family name, or both spouses going by their original surname. However, the law is entirely gender neutral, and the couple may adopt either of their surnames (a husband adopting his wife's family name is an uncommon but by no means unheard-of practice, which is generally accepted and carries little to no social stigma), or even a completely different one. The law also recognizes the couple's right to use the combined family name, and for the either of the spouses to reclaim their original surname in the case the marriage is dissolved.
Spain[edit]
Spouses keep their original surnames. Following Spanish naming customs, a person's name consists of a given name (simple or composite) followed by two family names (surnames), the father's and the mother's. Any children whom a couple have together take both first-surnames, so if "José Gómez Hevia" and "María Reyes García" had a child named "Andrés", the resulting name would be "Andrés Gómez Reyes".
Law 11/1981 in Spain, enacted in 1981, declared among other things that children, on turning 18, now had a legal option to choose whether their father's or mother's surname came first. If a family did not exercise an option to change the order of the names in their surname, the law defaulted to the father's surname as the first.[60]
Also in Spain, a 1995 reform in the law allows the parents to choose whether the father's or the mother's surname goes first, although this order must be the same for all their children. For instance, the name of the son of the couple in the example above could be "Andrés Gómez Reyes" or "Andrés Reyes Gómez".[61]
In some Spanish-American countries it is customary for women to unofficially add the husband's first surname after her own, for social purposes such as invitation letters or event announcements. The couple above may introduce themselves as José Gómez Hevia and María Reyes de Gómez. It is also common to name, in formal settings, the wife of a man as "señora de", followed by her husband's first surname.
Turkey[edit]
Since 2014, women in Turkey are allowed to keep their birth names alone for their whole life instead of using their husbands' names.[62] Previously, the Turkish Code of Civil Law, Article 187, required a married woman to use her husband's surname; or else to use her birth name in front of her husband's name by giving a written application to the marriage officer or the civil registry office. In 2014, the Constitutional Court ruled that prohibiting married women from retaining only maiden names is a violation of their rights.[63]
Asia[edit]
China[edit]
Traditionally, unlike in Anglophone Western countries, a married woman keeps her name unchanged, without adopting her husband's surname.[64] In mainland China a child inherits their father's surname as a norm, though the marriage law explicitly states that a child may use either parent's surname. It is also common for two children born to the same parents to take different surnames, one after the father and the other after the mother. It is also possible, though far less common, for a child to combine both parents' surnames. Amongst the Chinese diaspora overseas, especially in Southeast Asia, women rarely legally adopt their spouse's surname.
Hong Kong[edit]
Due to British influence, some people in Hong Kong have also adopted the tradition of women changing their English last name, or prepending their husband's Chinese surname to their own in official occasions or business cards but rarely on resident identification or travel documents. An example is former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who prepended her husband Lam Siu-por's surname to hers.
Iran[edit]
It became mandatory in 1918 to use surnames in Iran, and only in this time, the heads of families had the right to choose their family members' (including the wife) surname. It is stated in the article four of the law on Civil Registration in 1925, that "Everybody should choose his/her own name. The wife... maintains her family name that was called by." The same thing has been restated in the article three of the law on Civil Registration in 1928. There is not much difference in the article 38 of the law on Civil Registration in 1940, but there is another article (43) that says "If the couple separate legally, maintaining husband's surname is allowed if the husband allows, and if the husband has taken wife's family name, maintaining wife's surname is allowed if the wife allows." In the last related article (the article 42 of the law on Civil Registration in 1976) the same thing is said about wife's surname change, but it is silent about husband's surname change.[65][66] Currently, it is very unusual that either spouse change his/her surname after marriage in Iran.
Japan[edit]
Japanese law does not recognize married couples who have different surnames as lawful husband and wife, which means that 96% of married Japanese women take their husband's surname.[67] In 2015, the Japanese Supreme Court upheld the name-change law, ruling that it was not unconstitutional, noting that women could informally use their maiden names, and stating that it was the parliamentarians who should decide on whether to pass new legislation on separate spousal names.[68]
In 2024, six couples recognized International Women's Day by suing the government of Japan for the right of a wife and husband to have different last names.[69]
Use as security question[edit]
One's mother's maiden name has been a common security question in banking since at least the 1980s.[79] It is a security question which can be easily circumvented by hackers.[80]