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The Maiden Name Debate: Difference between revisions
"fan fic" -> "fan works", italics on work names, added example
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See also [[Meaningful Rename]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Gendo Rokubungi from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' became Gendo Ikari when he took his wife's last name, though the reasons why aren't explicitly clear. If the ambiguously canon information that Yui is the daughter of a SEELE member is to be believed, it may have been to gain a foothold in the organization. Within the show itself, though, it seems Gendo did it because [[Pet the Dog|he really did love Yui]], and wanted to prove that he was utterly devoted to her. Note that even Fuyutsuki found his name change odd.
** Maybe he just wanted to lose the
** There's some implication that Gendo had a dark past he wanted to get away from as well. Getting a new name would be a symbolic way of starting over.
* Fate Testarossa from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' became Fate Testarossa-Harlaown (or T. Harlaown) after being adopted by Lindy Harlaown in order to respect both. She is later integrated into the "Takamachi Family" but just keeps her previous hyphenated last name. Both because it would be [[Hide Your Lesbians|too obvious]] and a tad wordy.<ref>
* Itoshiki Rin from ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' looks forward to the day she can get married and change her [[Unfortunate Name]]. Sadly, the Itoshiki family is very high-ranking, so she has trouble finding an acceptably prominent suitor. In fact, her brother's friend who is in love with all things old tries to marry her in order to acquire an old name.
* When Kaoru and Aoi finally get together in ''[[Ai Yori Aoshi]]'', Aoi takes Kaoru's family name, but his mother's maiden name "Honjo" instead of "Hanabishi," as Kaoru has left the Hanabishi family (due to the abuse from his grandfather) and has taken to using that name.
* In some ''[[Ronin Warriors]]'' [[All There in the Manual|side-materials]], Shin Mouri (Cye of the Torrent) is troubled because his Ronin duties conflict with him becoming the heir of his family's traditional pottery business. To solve this, his older sister and her boyfriend agree on him marrying into the Mouri family and taking up the surname.
* In ''[[Kimagure Orange Road]]'', Kyousuke and the twins's Kasuga surname is actually their mother Akemi's maiden name. Their dad Takashi married into the Kasuga clan since Akemi was the only daughter... which certainly explains why [[Muggle|he's the only Kasuga]] without [[Psychic Powers]].
* If there's a rich [[Big Screwed-Up Family]] in [[Detective Conan]], it's almost a sure thing that one of the daughters will be married to a man who has taken up the family name. Said man is very, ''very'' likely to become either a murder victim or a suspect.
== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Superman]]'' comics, Lois Lane changed it to Lois Lane-Kent and kept her maiden name as a pen name. Occasionally Planet staff sarcastically call Clark "''Mr.'' Lane."
* Supporting ''[[X-Men]]'' character Moira MacTaggart (formerly Moira Kinross) kept her late husband's name. Strange, considering the fact that he was horribly abusive and that Moira's son Proteus was implied to be the result of marital rape. Partially justified seeing as her husband refused to divorce her, leading to her running away and pretending she was widowed... but when he actually died, there was no reason to keep using the name.
* Spoofed in one ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|New Avengers]]'' issue where Luke Cage (aka "Power Man") tried to convince his wife to go by "Power Woman."
== Fan
* In the Red Jewel Diaries chapter "For Better or Worse" of ''[[MGLN Crisis]]'', Fate wonders where "Scrya" and "Takamachi" would fit into her name when she marries [[One True Threesome|Nanoha and Yuuno]].▼
▲* In the Red Jewel Diaries chapter "For Better or Worse" of [[MGLN Crisis]], Fate wonders where "Scrya" and "Takamachi" would fit into her name when she marries [[One True Threesome|Nanoha and Yuuno]].
{{quote|'''Fate:''' If I took both your names, would that make me Fate Testarossa Harlaown Scrya Takamachi? Or perhaps Fate Testarossa Harlaown Takamachi Scrya? Fate Scrya Takamachi? Fate Takamachi Scrya? Hmm, I need to think about this...}}
* For [[One True Threesome|the same reason]], this trope also comes up for Fate in ''[[Relationships Series]]''.
* This is constantly a question for writers of ''[[The X-Files]]'' fanfiction that feature Mulder and Scully as a married couple. While a large question is whether or not Scully would change her name, the larger question is: since they're on a [[Last-Name Basis]] and they got married, would he still call her Scully?
== Film ==
* ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'' shows George getting a phone call (on his wedding day) from "Mrs. Bailey." "I don't want to talk to Mrs. Bailey! I want to talk to my wife!". Apparently it takes him some time to get used to the idea, too.
* In ''Woman of the Year'', career woman Tess Harding ruins her marriage to Sam Craig by neglecting her personal life in favor of her public life and then fails when she tries to make up for it by playing the traditional domestic wife. In the end, Sam suggests she doesn't have to pick one role or the other: she can be Tess Harding Craig.
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== Literature ==
* In ''[[Discworld/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'', Moist's initial impression of Saccharissa Cripslock (who was [[Discworld/The Truth|last seen]] in a sort-of-relationship with William de Worde) is "Wedding ring, but still 'Miss'. Probably has Views. Do not attempt to kiss hand."
** In Lancre meanwhile, there's a sort of tradition of matrilinearity, at least amongst witches. So when Miss Gytha Ogg got married, she became Mrs Gytha Ogg and her husband became Mr. Ogg (as did her subsequent husbands—well, the ones that [[Really Gets Around|were actually hers]]). Her married sons, however, are still Oggs, because none of her daughters-in-law are brave enough to explain to Nanny that they shouldn't be.
* ''A Love for All Time'' by Bertrice Small begins in Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth commands one of her courtiers, Conn O'Malley, who is a troublesome Irishman, to marry Aidan St. Michael, who is a titled Englishwoman, and to take her name along with the title that went with it. He agreed, mainly because of the title. One of the queen's advisors pointed out that this would effectively make Conn an Englishman.
* The [[Bruce Coville]] book ''Monster of the Year'' has Michael McGraw, whose mother (Elsa Adams) changed her name to her husband's when she got married, changed back after they divorced, and said she'd stay with her maiden name for the rest of her life. Michael, on the other hand, had his name changed to match his stepfather's. As he puts it, "This confuses outsiders, since they can't figure out who I really belong to, but it suits the three of us just fine."
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', it's never said if [[Do Not Call Me Paul|Nymphadora]] Tonks changes her last name after marrying Lupin, but most of the other characters continue to call her Tonks.
* In the ''[[Amelia Peabody]]'' books, after Amelia marries she goes by "Amelia Peabody Emerson", but her husband Radcliffe continues to address her as "Peabody".
== Live Action TV ==
* Turk and Carla in ''[[Scrubs]]'' faced this problem. Turk's classic response to Carla wanting to keep her name: "Okay baby, I guess we'll be one of those New Age couples that don't love each other!" They eventually compromise: Carla keeps her name, and [[Just the Way You Are|Turk keeps]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|his mole]].
** She does use it for "official" things. Including letting him call her "Mrs. Turk" in the bedroom.
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* On ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', Lily keeps her last name after marrying Marshall, though they do consider both adopting a brand new last name (with candidates [[Awesome McCoolname|"Skywalker," "Hasselhoff," and "Awesome"]]).
{{quote|"Have you met the Awesomes, Marshall and Lily, their son Totally, and their daughter Frickin'?"}}
* On ''[[Murphy Brown]]'', Corky Sherwood marries Will Forrest. She chooses to keep her maiden name as a middle name, until she realizes that she will then be Corky [[Robin Hood|Sherwood Forrest]].
* On ''[[My Hero (TV)|My Hero]]'' when George and Janet finally married:
{{quote|'''George:''' Arnie says you can have my name now. [[Literal-Minded|How'd you like to be "George"?]]}}
* A variant from ''[[My Family]]'', with the parents going into a therapy session:
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'''Susan:''' ''Maiden'' name? (To shrink) Harper is my husband's name, Riggs was my father's name, but Ryman was my grandmother's name. She chose it herself, no men involved.
'''Ben:''' She was [[Raised by Wolves|reared by wolves]]. }}
* On the American version of ''[[The Office (2005 TV series)|The Office]]'', Pam almost marries Roy Anderson and indicates that she would have begrudgingly taken his name if they had gone through with it.
{{quote|'''Pam:''' That's as close as I ever want to get to being Pamela Anderson.}}
** On the flipside, she's more than excited to change it when marrying Jim. [[Squee|Squeeing Ensues]] when Kevin hands her a check made out to "Mrs. Pam Halpert."
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{{spoiler|'''Rory:''' Melody Williams...}}
{{spoiler|'''Amy:''' ...is a geography teacher. Melody Pond is a superhero!}} }}
** While it is never revealed how (if at all) their legal names change, they call each other "Mrs. Williams" and "Mr. Pond" as terms of endearment, shown respectively in "A Good Man Goes To War" and "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe". And we do learn eventually that Melody used "Pond" as a surname.
** Although not seen on screen, when Martha and Mickey tie the knot, the former becomes Martha Smith-Jones. And when Donna gets engaged to Shaun Temple, the Doctor gets worried because Donna Noble-Temple would sound stupid. Wilfred assures him she's going for 'Temple-Noble' instead.
* Gwen Cooper kept her name when marrying Rhys Williams in ''[[Torchwood]]'', at the request of Gwen's actress Eve Myles.
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* In the comic strip ''[[Stone Soup]]'', when the soon-to-be-hubby asked the soon-to-be-wife why she had any reservations about changing her name, she responded, "Why don't ''you'' change ''your'' name?" He began listing all the legal, financial and professional hassles that would entail for someone as established in life as he was (it was the second marriage for both), then stopped and said, "Oh, yeah."
* In ''[[Peanuts]],'' Sally decides to write to [[Mrs. Claus]] instead of Santa. At one point Charlie Brown mentions that he had heard she was called "[[Punny Name|Mary Christmas]]," and Sally congratulates her on deciding to keep her own name.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[The Sims]] 2'', the couple takes the name of whomever initiates the marriage action. A lot of player challenges place restrictions on this (legacy heirs must keep the legacy family name and such) and there are mods to choose the name or to enforce a "traditional" marriage. So, quite a few male Sims end up taking their wives' last names.
** In the third game, the two adopt the surname of the house.
* In ''[[Escape from Monkey Island]]'', Elaine is far better known than her new husband Guybrush so everyone keeps calling him "Mr. Marley". Officially they're both "Threepwood" now. Guybrush occasionally introduces himself as Marley-Threepwood.
==
* ''[[PvP (webcomic)|
▲* ''[[PvP (webcomic)|Pv P]]'' had some back and forth over Jade changing her name. Lampshading on the [https://web.archive.org/web/20110823194431/http://www.pvponline.com/2007/08/30/aug-30-2007/ issue’s] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110823192507/http://www.pvponline.com/2007/08/31/aug-31-2007/ resolution], [https://web.archive.org/web/20110823192840/http://www.pvponline.com/2007/09/02/sep-2-2007/ they deliberately decided to ignore it until the last minute.] [https://web.archive.org/web/20120106115826/http://www.pvponline.com/2008/05/01/always/ She eventually] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|becomes Jade Sienna]].
* In ''[[Something*Positive]]'', Jason takes Aubrey's surname when they marry. In this case it had more to do with his crummy relationship with his father than anything.
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', Daigo hasn't taken his wife's last name (Kato), but they've used it for the name of their newly-established noble house. Daigo is [[Nominal Importance|saving his own last name for an emergency]].
* When [[Kevin and Kell|Kevin married Kell]], he changed his (and his adopted daughter's) last name to his wife's, mainly because he had been disowned by his family. Considering he's a rabbit and Kell's a wolf, the name change was the ''least'' of people's concerns.
** Lindesfarne keeps the name Dewclaw after she marries Fenton, likely because she's already a published scientist. Nothing was really made of it besides an offhand comment from Fiona to the effect of
** [[All There in the Manual|According to the FAQ]], Kell convinced Rudy to change his surname from Foxglove (his father's last name) to Dewclaw after his father's death.
* Ki in ''[[General Protection Fault]]'' ponders the issue as her wedding to Nick nears, but decides to take Wellington as her surname after getting married, since it's easier to spell.
* Amy Chilton from ''[[Scary Go Round]]'' is Amy Beckwith-Chilton in the [[Spin-Off]] webcomic ''[[Bad Machinery]]'', due to her marriage to Ryan Beckwith. (She is quite successful with her antiques shop she has set up back in ''[[Scary Go Round|SGR]]'', so this may probably be for the bussiness-stratetical reason of name recognition.)
== Western Animation ==
* Marge Simpson's sister, Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Stu from ''[[The Simpsons]]'' probably should have considered this debate a bit more.<ref>Sequential addition of names, not simultaneous</ref>
** She eventually used this as a reason not to marry Apu, saying adding "Nahasapeemapetilon" to it would just be too much.
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** Referenced in "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", during the production of the Lisa Lionheart doll.
{{quote|'''Lisa:''' ''(recording her voice for the doll)'' "When I get married, I'm keeping my own name." Oh, no, that should probably be "If I choose to get married."}}
* On ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]
* On ''[[Total Drama World Tour]],'' the contestants fake getting married for a challenge, with [[Villain Sue|Alejandro]] and [[Alpha Bitch|Heather]] [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|paired up]]. After he refers to her as "Mr. Alejandro," she sarcastically calls him "Mr. Heather."
** Later, when [[Stalker with a Crush|Sierra]] thinks that she's really trapped [[Butt Monkey|Cody]] in an [[Accidental Marriage]], she tells [[Big Bad|Chris]] that her name is now "Sierra-Cody. It's hyphenated." Apparently none of these kids know how last names are supposed to work.
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== Real Life ==
* Real life inversions are discussed in [http://offbeatbride.com/2008/04/groom-changing-last-name this blog post].
* Cheryl Cole of pop group [[Girls Aloud]] and judge on ''[[The X Factor]]'' was originally Cheryl Tweedy. She changed her surname, including for professional use, when she married Ashley Cole in 2006. She kept the name after their divorce in 2009 as she was already more famous as Cole than Tweedy.
* By the time Hillary married [[Bill Clinton]], she had already established herself as a successful lawyer and writer as Hillary Rodham. In the early years she kept that name, but when her hubby ran for governor of Arkansas, it was seen as [[Straw Feminist]] in the [[Deep South]] state for a woman to keep her maiden name and actually hurt his chances of winning the election. She compromised, using "[[Hillary Rodham Clinton]]" for publishing and law-practicing purposes and so has she been known ever since. Now that she's become secretary of state, however, she's often called Hillary Clinton, and her 2008 campaign website was
** It is still a tradition in certain parts of the [[Deep South]] to not assign middle names to girls, with the ''expectation'' that she will keep her maiden name as a middle name after she marries. Therefore, it wasn't even seen as a compromise in the eyes of many voters, just, well, [[Department of Redundancy Department|expected]] (note that Hillary Rodham, being from [[The Windy City|Chicago]], ''was'' given a middle name: Diane).
* Annie Mae "Tina" Turner kept her married name after divorcing Ike, enduring the bad memories attached to it, for business purposes. It worked, however, as she brought far more good to that name than Ike ever did.
* In some jurisdictions, while there is no particular administrative fee for changing one's name when being ''married'' (the name change being incorporated into the whole marriage bit), there ''is'' a separate fee to change one's name when one ''divorces.'' Further (in some jurisdictions), for the woman to change her last name and middle name when getting married is trivial, but if she also wants to change her ''first'' name, you suddenly need to get a judge's approval, etc. Like that's ''more'' likely to have a nefarious plot behind it.
* There was (and still is, in many places) a significant [[Double Standard]] about this. For women to change their names after marriage was a simple procedure, while for the man to take his wife's name required moving hell and earth. The most famous person to do this is probably the NFL's London Fletcher-Baker, who adopted the Baker to honor his father-in-law.
** Legal issues aside, you can hear any number of stories from women who decided not to change their names getting "Ohohoho, well, we know who'll wear the pants in
* [[J. K. Rowling]] is actually named Joanne ''Murray'' since marrying in late 2001. She just didn't bother to change her pen name (which technically was a pseudonym anyway, since she never had a middle name). All three of her children have "Rowling" as a middle name, however.
* Similarly, [[Agatha Christie]] was Agatha Mallowan from 1930, but she kept Christie as her pen name.
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