Should my husband's name come in between my name and our surname. as my new name?

Question

What's the correct way of doing it.. in official documents..

For example:
Sunita Rao (girl)
Rajiv Shah (boy)

Does the girl become Sunita Rajiv Shah?

I am confused, that's what my husband wants, while in my family, it would only be Sunita Shah.

I'll appreciate your opinion. Thanks.

Answer 1

It really depends on your culture.

Some cultures flip the name completely - So you would be:
Sunita Rao Shah

and your husband would be: Rajiv Shah Rao

This announces that you are married to him and he to you.

Names generally follow a paternalistic (male) approach in Western culture. So you do have the choice of:

Sunita Rao - (keeping your name only for professional reasons and if you are established as that you might want to keep it that way).

Sunita Rao-Shah - You are keeping your name and adding his name to the end to show you are married to him.

Sunita Shah - You are embracing his name and your last name is left out. However, some cultures would name their child after your last name so then you would have a girl or a boy named Rao if you went with this option.

There is no need to put his first name into your last name. This would only signify that you are his property and he is the one that is married to you.

If you do go with the latter (Sunita Rajiv Shah) then tell him you would like him to be Rajiv Sunita Rao and see what he says.

There is no law that says a woman should or needs to give up her right to her last name as if it never existed.

Those are pretty much your choices.

In Western culture signing your name as Sunita Rao, Sunita Rao-Shah or Sunita Shah are all acceptable forms of names and totally up to you how you want to acknowledge your married life.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Sunita Shah

Answer 3

Sunita Shah, Mrs. Shah
Or Mrs. Rajiv Shah on formal things, like invitations. Sometimes on addresses it will list it as Mr. & Mrs. Rajiv Shah.


Legal documents would be your first name with his last name in place of your maiden name.

Answer 4

your first name, his last name. the woman never puts her husbands first name on stuff. if you like, you can hyphenate you last name with his. sunita rao-shah. i think your husbad either doesn't understand or is a bit controlling