Maiden name

A "maiden name" is the family name carried by a woman before any of her marriages. A maiden name may be indicated using the word "née" (pronounced as either "nay" or "nee"), from the French for "born", hence Margaret Hilda Thatcher née Roberts.

Legal status of maiden and married names

Laws respecting married names vary. In areas whose legal systems derive from the English common law—such as the USA, much of Canada, and the UK—a name change usually does not require legal action, because a person can choose to be known by any name (except with intent to defraud); this is why authors, actors, and step-children, as well as married women, can adopt new names without taking any legal action. In many jurisdictions whose legal systems derive from the civil law—such as France, Spain, the Canadian province of Quebec, and the U.S. state of Louisiana—however, the default position is for a woman's "legal name" to remain the same throughout life: Citizens there who wish to change their names legally must usually apply to do so via a formal procedure.

Related Topics:
Common law - USA - Canada - UK - Name change - Civil law - Quebec - Louisiana

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Legally and commonly, Chinese and Korean women do not, as a tradition, discard their maiden names after marriage. In modern day, some overseas Chinese women, join their husbands' surname, so Miss Huang who married Mr. Li may become Mrs. Li Huang. This double surname practice is not found in China and Korea.

Related Topics:
Chinese - Korea - Overseas Chinese

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This double surname practice used to be very common in Taiwan. Nowadays, married women in Taiwan tend to use their maiden names alone. Only when a women wants people to know her marital status and her husband would she use the name with her husband's surname appended.

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