This question arises after watching The Wright Stuff on TV this morning. Is it old fashioned to change your name upon marrying if you are female. Would you keep your name or have a double-barrelled name or would you expect your male partner to change to your surname as a male caller to the show said he would be doing this year. Another question arose that if you were to divorce would you revert back to your maiden name or keep your married name?

Maybe I should start a poll - what do you think?

Why would you want to keep the name of your ex? Unless you have kids who have their dads name.
It can get complicated cant it.

Originally posted by royjames
Why would you want to keep the name of your ex? Unless you have kids who have their dads name.
It can get complicated cant it.

Well it becomes your name when you get married. If you have been married for 30 years, then get divorced, then your married name is sort of more your name than your maiden name.

Personally I don't believe in marriage anyway, would consider marrying my partner if we wanted children, that's about it.

I think it is a bit old fashioned to change your name, but at the same time, if you are married and have different surnames I'm sure there are all sorts of problems so I can see why people do it. Don't really get double barrelled names though.

Maybe a couple should both change their names? they could chose one they like that sounds good with both their first names?

Got a better way just dont get married in the first place,problem solved.

Originally posted by royjames
Got a better way just dont get married in the first place,problem solved.
For a person as politically motivated as you with the BNP, and one of BNP policies is a return to 'old english family values', you're being hypocritical advising people not to get married.

I dont want to go into BNP stuff here as its the wrong place .

Originally posted by royjames
I dont want to go into BNP stuff here as its the wrong place .
Just pointing out the irony - feel free to move back on topic :D

Originally posted by beckyaa
Well it becomes your name when you get married. If you have been married for 30 years, then get divorced, then your married name is sort of more your name than your maiden name.

Personally I don't believe in marriage anyway, would consider marrying my partner if we wanted children, that's about it.

I think it is a bit old fashioned to change your name, but at the same time, if you are married and have different surnames I'm sure there are all sorts of problems so I can see why people do it. Don't really get double barrelled names though.

Maybe a couple should both change their names? they could chose one they like that sounds good with both their first names?

I love my name so I would defo keep and pass it on to my kiddys

My surname is unusual and I always said that I wouldn't change my name and lose it when I got married. But it is important to me that we have the same name as we are creating our own family unit. So we have both double barrelled our name instead, that way neither of us lost our surname/family history and have the same name.

It was quite funny changing our names at banks and stuff. As when hubby and I went to change our names, they assumed that I was changing mine to his and did it without listening to us. They went off and did the change and then I asked them what they had done and then had to get them to put it right.

Originally posted by thomsongirl
So we have both double barrelled our name instead, that way neither of us lost our surname/family history and have the same name.



We thought of that and then thought again when we considered the possibility of our off-spring with a double barrelled name marrying somebody else with a double barrelled name. It would end up quite a mouthful wouldn't it :confused:

Back to the original question, yes I would change my name. I have no problems with it at all.

Yes I do think it's old fashioned. The lady changing her name always looks a bit submissive to me. It's almost like she becomes his possession (which I guess for a long time was actually the case for many people).

So if I am ever unfortunate enough to marry Mr Pussycat, no way will I be changing my name and I wouldn't expect him to change his. We've managed several years with little problems in the way of having different surnames, although if we had kids I don't know which name we'd give them! And also I wouldn't ever use the title Mrs cos I don't like it.

I don't really "get" marriage anyway so this situation is unlikely to occur. I appreciate that it's very important to some folks, but not us.

I was married a long time ago now and reverted back to my maiden name straight away after my divorce was final. When my son was born, I gave him my surname. My daughter was 8 at the time and by then, her father had dissapeared into the ether and had no contact with her. She decided she wanted to change her surname to be the same as me and her brother. We couldn't do it legally (through the court etc) as we couldn't trace where her father was living and he would have to give his permission. We did it by common usage (as I did myself) and had no problem changing at anywhere except for her school. She went to a Catholic Junior School and they would only recognise her by the name on her batism certificate. She just refused to answer to it and in the end they gave up!

What's in a name.

(Title), Lady Drummond, (bit of a mouthfull), on forum: k-drummond, still a mouthfull, (can not win)! but at least a bit more friendly.

If I ever get divorced I'm definately changing my name
to Robinson Crusoe

Then I'm gonna bog off to an island somewhere & hunt me some man food. :hihi:

I think it is part of the marriage process for the woman to change her surname to that of the husbands. A single, united surname conveys the feeling of "family" the best, especially to any future children of the marriage.

Double-barrel surnames are a bit silly, especially when considering the long term impact - if everyone adopted this approach, the children would marry and have quadruple-barrel surnames, their children would marry, etc etc, and it would become silly.

Why is it the woman that changes her name? Well, that's just the way it is for most people. It doesn't have to be, it's up to the couple, but personally I'd expect my wife to adopt my name.

Think my partner married me to become a Lord, he likes the provardo, easy resturant bookings, free upgrades on flights, glam party invites. But if we have it then why not use it..............

Not married, 1 kid.

When this topic surfaced, I suggested that all three of us adopted a brand new name. We toyed with

Rockerfeller
Rothschild
Dimblebey
Windsor
Attenborough
von Arco-Zinneburg
etc.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
Not married, 1 kid.

When this topic surfaced, I suggested that all three of us adopted a brand new name. We toyed with

Rockerfeller
Rothschild
Dimblebey
Windsor
Attenborough
von Arco-Zinneburg
etc.

How about Craddock? ;) :lol:

Not quite divorced yet separated!
I will keep my married name cause no one knows me by my maiden name.
Also I dont think I can be arsed to change all my bills, driving license, bank accounts, passport, direct debits etc. etc. it goes on and on.

In the unlikely event of my becoming a divorcee I'd change my name to.....Freeman :D

Originally posted by Rich
How about Craddock? ;) :lol:

OI you.

My boy bears my name. This seemed to be more important to members of family than it was to me. Most surnames in Sweden are adoptive anyhow, mostly around the Napoleonic era. At one point the Swedish phonebook came in two halves - Andersson and Svensson.

Most people knew each other by a locale or trade specific name. Like 'jones the steam'

I would, as I'm quite a traditional person when it comes to things like that. But lets just say I get really well established as a solicitor and have loads of clients and whatnot, then I don't want to just disappear off the face of the earth because of a name change, so a double-barrel may be an option. Mind you, the person I'd love to marry has a surname that just does not fit nicely into a double barrel with mine, so I think I'd just change mine. hehe!:hihi:

I have a problem. I'm from Chile and my father is trying to take away from my mother all the assets that they had when they were married. They married in Sheffield during the '80s and then they divorced during the '90s. Could somebody tell me where I can find some legal information about marriage assets, common property, and all the issues about property in marriages in Sheffield. I really need information. Thanks. The trial is in Chile, but they are arguying about the property regimes in Sheffield.

You might want to start a new topic Chilean, think your question is a bit lost here! I'm afraid I can't help you, but I'm sure there are people here who can!

Good luck.