What is the purpose of a women keeping her maiden name along with her married name? ie Stephanie Roof-Davis?

Question

I am thinking of doing it.

Answer 1

hyphenating is a nice respectful way of keeping your own family name while taking on another.

Answer 2

I kept my maiden name and - my married name. The reason why I did is because I was in business and everyone who knew me recognized my last name. Out of respect to marrying I would write my first name on occasion and use my maiden name as C. example-married name. 17 years later my husband found another women had a baby and married again so you never know sometimes its good to keep both.
When you have a child even after divorce the women may keep her married name plus original name so child is feeling loved.

Answer 3

I have maintained my maiden name by law in my husbands native country. There the woman retains her last name. To me it's just something I have to explain once in a while. I think in this day and age when so many things are allowed you should talk to the man you are marrying and see what he thinks and then consider what you want to do. If it's no big deal to him it would appear that you could do as you pleased. To me my husband's last name became mine and my children never had people question wheither mom and dad were married which is one of the downfalls of the loss of some traditional ways.

Answer 4

I think this whole thing about women having to change their names every time they marry is paternalistic and outdated. Your name is your name.
The hyphenated name is a nice compromise. It can also be changed a lot easier if the marriage dissolves.

The thing that cheeses me off: when a woman marries a man, she gets his credit rating. So even if she has always had a "AAA+++" credit, and she marries a guy with "C-" credit, she winds up with his credit history and rating instead, as if she never had a credit history. This happens even if you keep your maiden name.
Check your credit reports before, and a few months after marriage.

Answer 5

I think keeping your maiden name and adding your married name shows a little independence. It also makes it easier to change all your information over to the new name. It can also show your intention to hold onto your family traditions, what if you are a single child and a girl, who carries on your last name? It can even have a nice ring to it!

Answer 6

If a woman has established her reputation in a career with her maiden name it is often a good idea to keep her maiden name with her married name. Most women who keep their maiden names do so because of a career. And there are those women who just don't like the idea of getting rid of their maiden name because they are proud of that name.

Answer 7

There really is no purpose. Essentially it is a compromise between keeping her name and taking his. Some dimwit decided it would be only fair if they used both names. That has led to the hyphenated name. Now, what happens if two people with already hyphenated names get married and want to keep both names. This gets out of hand rather quickly.

Answer 8

i believe some women keep their maiden name along with their marriage name to hold on to the name that they've had their whole life without and also because it's a family name,and for some it's not that easy to simply give up their family name.

Answer 9

some keep their maiden name along with their married name because of their career such as doctors/lawyers,they are known for their maiden name,in order to keep the clients and avoid confusion they used both.

others used it for they are the last ones who will carry their last name.like in my case i dont have a brother and so the our family name ends by the time i got married and so did but since i have the freedom to used both, so i did.my kids wont be able to use it--only as their middle name

Answer 10

This is being done less and less, because it causes problems later on if you have children. It's become more common for the woman to use her maiden name as her middle name, and take her husband's surname as her own.
If you are thinking of having children, it's best to have ONE family surname.

Answer 11

I dropped my middle name and replaced it with my uncommon maiden name. I didn't want to be one of a million "Mary Jo Smiths." The "Mary Differentname Smith" says who I was for 34 years and who I am now.