Marital Naming Research Articles

From Outsider to Insider: Women's Marital Names and Family Identity in Nineteenth-Century Taiwan

This article explores the naming customs of married women in Taiwan during the nineteenth century. By attempting to unveil the factors that caused women to prefix the husband's surname, it shows that the practice likely developed from legal and property documents. It also elaborates the convention's relationship with women's family identity, arguing that women were “dual outsiders” in both the natal and affinal family. However, this study finally demonstrates that prefixing the husband's surname did not connote their passivity or subjugation as married women, especially widows who could rely on it to call upon their rights within the family and society.

Undoing Patrilineality: New Maternal Families and the Politics of Naming in Turkey

Abstract Based on the topical life stories of fifteen single mothers from Turkey, this article traces the act of naming as a practice of social and legal boundary making and as a means of undoing patrilineality and to seek acknowledgement for a new maternal family. Analyzing the politics of naming in the stories of these single mothers, this contribution first discusses the stigmatizing aspects of conventional patrilineal and marital family naming in Turkey. It traces changes in the registration of family names, how single mothers decide on the registration of the father’s first name, and their concerns and strategies during these legal, bureaucratic procedures. Whereas family law reform has given more rights to single biological and adoptive mothers, they still remain affected by the emotional aspects of a stigmatized practice. Strategically planning their future and that of their children, one solution is to use naming to merge their maternal families with their own paternal families.

Asszonynévhasználat és asszonynév-változtatás a 20. század második felében

The study examines changes in the use of marital names and their connections from a novel perspective based on new source material. Its broader subject matter is the changes in the use of official marital names in the second half of the 20th century, which brought about an expansion, and never before seen diversity in the name forms that could be chosen in marriage. (Considering an example of a husband called [examples given in Hungarian name order, with family names first] Hunyadi János and his wife Szilágyi Erzsébet, the wife could at first only be (i) Hunyadi Jánosné using the -né suffix, meaning ‘wife of’. From 1953 the wife could choose to be (ii) Hunyadi Jánosné Szilágyi Erzsébet or (iii) Szilágyi Erzsébet. 1974 brought even more choices with (iv) Hunyadiné Szilágyi Erzsébet or (v) Hunyadi Erzsébet. In 2004 the options (vi) Hunyadi-Szilágyi Erzsébet and (vii) Szilágyi-Hunyadi Erzsébet were added. Nevertheless, the study focuses not on the name forms chosen at the time of marriage but later changes that realised movement between the name forms available to women in a given period. The source material of the study is a selected subset of the request documents submitted to the responsible ministry. The study examines the change requests submitted by married women and those submitted by divorced or widowed women separately. The legal background of the phenomenon is explored, alongside the possible motivations for the changes based on written statements and factors that can be deduced from the processes. The proportion of changed and newly chosen name forms, temporal changes in these trends, and the social characteristics of those submitting requests are examined throughout the period that brought significant changes. The paper hopes to contribute to a better understanding of the factors that influence the use, change and connections of names used by women in the Modern Age with this study.

Changing Name Changing: Framing Rules and the Future of Marital Names

Introduction 763 I. The Nature of the Problem 767 A. The Trouble with Names 768 B. The Trouble with Marital Naming Choices 774 II. Current Social Defaults: Practices of Family Naming 785 A. What Spouses Do with Their Names 785 B. What Parents Do with Their Children’s Names 791 III. Social Alternatives: Crafting A Sustainable Egalitarian Convention ....793 A. Common Alternatives to the Mrs. His Name Convention .......794 B. A Promising Alternative: Biphenation 804 IV. Current Legal Defaults: State Procedures for Marital Names 809 A. Keeping: The Least Sticky Default (But Only for Women) .....812 B. The Process (Costs) for Various Marital Name Changes .........816

Marital Naming Plans among Students at Four Evangelical Colleges

Despite increasingly egalitarian gender roles in the United States, when the wedding bells ring for heterosexual couples, husband and wife still commonly emerge sharing the man’s last name. Largely missing from previous studies of marital name change is the influence of religion. We examine the marital naming plans of 199 students from four Evangelical colleges. Nearly all these students planned to marry and more than 80% planned to follow the traditional naming pattern for their gender. Bivariate correlations and logistic regression models reveal that private prayer and more literal views of the Bible correspond to plans for a traditional marital surname. Yet, only a small minority of students evoked religious language to justify their surname choice. Gender roles, identity, and tradition were dominant themes in their explanations. Whether recognized or not, personal religiosity and the model of marriage cultivated in religious families guide the marital naming intentions of Evangelical students. Thus, religion operates as an invisible influence shaping ideals of marriage and family within Evangelical subculture.

Marital Name Changing Attitudes and Plans of College Students: Comparing Change Over Time and Across Regions.

This study examines time period and regional effects on U.S. college students' attitudes and plans regarding marital naming. Data were gathered at a Midwestern college in 1990 and 2006 and at an Eastern university in 2006 (N=867). No time period effect was identified for marital name plans in the Midwest samples. Women were neither more nor less likely to plan to retain their birth name in 1990 as compared to 2006. A time period effect was found for attitudes: Midwest women in 2006 were more likely to say a woman was more committed to the marriage if she took her husband's last name as compared to Midwest women in 1990. This indicates that women in the Midwest may have become more conservative over time. We also found regional differences: women in the East were significantly more likely than women in the Midwest to plan to keep their birth surname upon marriage. Findings suggest a trend toward more conservative attitudes over time and location although plans, perhaps due to the rareness of maintaining a birth surname upon marriage, have not changed.

Women's Post-Marital Name Retention and the Communication of Identity

AbstractThis study describes how identity is symbolically communicated through women's post-marital name retention by examining the factors influencing women's choices, the communication around the decision, and how the non-traditional last name is present (or not) in interaction. This study uses symbolic interactionism and critical feminism as orienting frameworks for the collection and analysis of data. Data was collected through twenty-three face-to-face interviews, and was analyzed using constant comparison and thematic analysis. Findings indicate that women who retain their names expect to do so, based upon identity-related concerns of ancestry, professional stature, and feminism. Additionally, women who engage in non-traditional marital naming engage in communication of their choices with others whose responses range from affirmation to confrontation. Findings indicate that a layered theoretical approach to the questions of naming and communication is warranted in order to generate understanding of decision-making, identity negotiation, meaning, and the use of names to communicate identity.

Women’s Marital Naming Choices in a Nationally Representative Sample

We explore women’s marital naming choices using the 2004 American Community Survey (ACS). Six percent of native-born married women have nonconventional surnames. Nonconventional surnames include hyphenated surnames, two surnames, and women who kept their own surname at marriage. Characteristics associated with nonconventional surname use include younger age, being other than White non-Hispanic, a large age difference between spouses, and higher educational attainment. Women with a master’s degree have odds of using a nonconventional surname that are 2.8 times higher than those who have less than a bachelor’s degree, whereas women with a professional degree have odds that are 5.0 times higher, and women with a doctorate have odds 9.8 times those with less than a bachelor’s degree.

‘Who would take whose name?’ Accounts of naming practices in same‐sex relationships

AbstractThe practice of a woman assuming her husband's last name upon marriage is a deeply embedded norm in some countries. Whether or not individual heterosexual couples reproduce or resist this practice, it provides a context for making decisions about marital names. No conventions, other than heteronormative ones, govern naming practices in same‐sex relationships and families, but very little is known about name changing in these contexts. This paper reports an exploratory qualitative study of the ways in which 30 lesbians and gay men in committed relationships made meaning of name changing and keeping. Only one participant reported changing her last name, some considered name changing a future possibility, but most had no plans to change their name. The lack of conventions regarding naming in same‐sex families created a dilemma for some participants—who would take whose name? Many participants did not want to entirely give up their name, thus a hyphenated last name was the most popular option for those contemplating a name change. Accounts of name changing centred on doing/being family. This was also a theme in accounts of name keeping, along with maintaining a continuity of personal and professional identity, avoiding hassle, complications and confusion and resisting heteronormativity. The findings are discussed in relation to other research on naming in same‐sex families and research on heterosexual marital naming practices. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What’s In a Name? Marital Name Choice Revisited

In two studies we assessed the percentage of brides who chose nontraditional marital names and characteristics that were related to name choice. In Study 1 we analyzed wedding announcements from The New York Times, 1982–2002. In Study 2 we surveyed the name choices, reasons for them, and associated characteristics of a sample of 126 college-educated women who have been part of a longitudinal study since 1993. A substantial minority of brides (29%) chose nontraditional names in Study 1, whereas 46% did in Study 2; the difference reflects the higher proportion of Women of Color and the higher educational level of women in Study 2. Other characteristics associated with nontraditional naming were: older age at marriage, more feminist attitudes, higher career commitment, and less value of the role of mother.

Trends in Women's Marital Name Choices: 1966–1996

AbstractWhether or not women have been more likely to select non-conventional marital surnames in more recent years has received little attention in the marital naming literature. We examine marital name choices in more than 2,000 wedding announcements reported over a thirty year period in The New York Times. Women were more likely to have chosen non-conventional marital names in the late 1980s and 1990s than in the 1960s and 1970s. Furthermore, unlike women who changed their last names to those of their husbands, women selecting non-conventional last names were more likely to be employed, to have higher levels of education and to be married in non-church locations.

Focus Groups in Ethnography of Communication: Expanding Topics of Inquiry Beyond Participant Observation

Historically, ethnography of communication has viewed participant observation as the central and necessary methodological point of departure for any ethnographic endeavor. However, as this article illustrates, this becomes problematic when particular topics of inquiry do not provide ample opportunities for observation. After struggles to participant observe conversations on women's marital naming practices, I was able to research this topic and produce participant observation-like understandings after I incorporated focus groups into my methods. Based upon these experiences and study, this article urges ethnography of communication scholars to step outside their traditional methodological practices, when necessary, and integrate the focus group method into their research protocols.

I. Women's Marital Names: An Interpretive Study of Name Retainers' Concepts of Marriage

I. Women's Marital Names: An Interpretive Study of Name Retainers' Concepts of Marriage

Women's Marital Naming in Two Generations: A National Study

Social explanations for patterns and trends in marital naming have received only sporadic attention from both social scientists and mass media, although researchers have recognized need to further study issue (Duggan, Cota, & Dion, 1993). In United States, normative expectation is that women will take their husband's last when they marry, How much this tradition has changed over time is uncertain, given that there has been little research that has empirically examined extent to which marital naming patterns depart from this traditional norm. One recent study found that 10% of married women in U.S. use something other than their husband's last name (Brightman, 1994, p. 9). Five percent of women in study hyphenated their last with that of their spouse, 2% used their maiden exclusively, and 3% used some other alternative, such as their birth surname as a middle name. Women most likely to use a nonconventional last had higher levels of education, were younger, and were either in low-income or high-income category (Brightman, 1994). Although these findings give some indication of frequency of nonconventional naming choices in U.S., study failed to empirically examine, in any detail, what factors account for nontraditional marital naming choices. The extent to which naming patterns depart from traditional pattern can have important social .consequences. Language, and meanings and symbols attached to it, tell us a lot about social relationships (McDowell & Pringle, 1992). The practice of a married woman her husband's name arises from a time when patriarchal nature of marriage was dominant in American society. This practice symbolically reinforced view that woman's identity was subsumed under her status as a wife (Weitzman, 1981). If United States is moving away from this pattern of naming, then of her issues are raised, such as how a family is labeled and identified by others (e.g., as the Jones), which last is given to offspring, and extent to which use of different last names by two spouses affects identification with marriage. Further examination of these issues first requires some empirical evidence about extent to which such practices are changing and about factors that influence marital choices. Our research study focuses on national prevalence of naming practices in two generations, social determinants of naming choices, and intergenerational transmission of marital naming practices. Little empirical information is available about any of these issues. Premarital preferences indicated by college students suggest that in about 9 out of 10 marriages, women plan to take last of their husband (Scheuble & Johnson, 1993). Little is known about prevalence of woman taking last of her spouse but keeping her birth surname as her middle name. Although personal observations suggest that this is a relatively common choice, Brightman's (1994) findings from a national sample suggest that only 3% choose this practice. What factors predict whether or not a woman will make a nonconventional marital choice? We examine following characteristics of married persons that may affect choice: age, age at first marriage, education, premarital cohabitation, age when dating began, religiosity, income, gender role traditionalism, wife's career orientation, parents' naming practices, community size and region. We expect that younger women will be more likely than older women to select a nonconventional last upon marriage, given that older women are more likely to have married during a time when traditional role expectations were more pervasive. Younger women are more likely to have experienced changing marital role expectations that have been brought about by increased educational levels, lower fertility, higher divorce rates, and changes in gender role attitudes. …

Taking Thy Husband's Name: What Might it Mean?

AbstractNames are sources of identity and esteem and changing them may be stressful. In many societies, marriage is an occasion when a woman must choose to retain her birth-given last name or change it. We critically review nine empirical studies concerning women's marital names and outline directions for future research.