Can a man use his wife's title when they get married?

Question

A friend of mine has heard something that may be rubbish or may be an old obscure law; that (in the UK) as a man cannot be inferior to his wife(!), if the wife has a PhD and can call herself 'Dr' (for example), then the husband can also call himself 'Dr'.

Now this sounds like rubbish to me, and I cannot find any reference to it anywhere, so has anybody else heard of this, and if it's true, does anybody have a reference for it?

Thanks.

KESIANNA K - care to elaborate on your answer?

MrClegg - do you have any proof? Are you a lawyer? This argument will not be settled without something a bit more concrete than an opinion, but it's hard to prove a negative, so if you have any evidence that would be great!

Answer 1

You can call yourself anything you like.
If you then go on to fraudulantly use a title you have adopted you will be in trouble. For example call yourself Doctor and then try to practise as one.
Colonel Saunders was never a colonel.
Rev Ian Paisley is not a Rev.
I am going to adopt the word King in front of my name..

Answer 2

It's rubbish, especially in professional terms, it is fairly common practice to use an honourific title: the wife of Lord X would be referred to as Lady X and vice versa but it's not law.

Answer 3

Ever heard of The White Stripes? The lead vocalist, Jack White took his wife's name, Meg White. For a while, people thought they were siblings.

Answer 4

A law officer did that once. His name was Barney Fife. Signed his name Barney Fife, M.D.
People thought he was a doctor until he told them oh that stands for Mayberry Deputy.

Answer 5

I like it. I can call myself Lady Bruce.

Answer 6

I never heard that before.

Answer 7

yes my name was fooker so we used my wifes name hers is smith

Answer 8

I think this is rubbish.

Answer 9

YES. MY HUSBAND IS USING MINE.

Answer 10

no