Behind the Headlines

By Paula Wethington / paula@monroenews.com

In Feb. 1, 2004, I wrote a story for The Monroe Evening News called “Married but not always Mrs.” that reviewed the local court records to see what last names local women were choosing at the time of marriage and divorce … and asked local women what they did with their names and why.

Snippet:

“For women who are getting married, the question of “Will you change your name?” is a big one. It’s one answered through a lifetime of introductions and a slew of legal documents. Whether a name changes, married women often find it difficult to explain who they are and to whom they are related. …

While there are other options, Monroe County women overwhelmingly switch their last names upon marriage. …”

As the story went on to explain … there are a lot of reasons why someone prefers to be known by one name or the other. Some were already well-known under a name and didn’t want to change it, others wanted everyone in the family to share the same last name.

One woman I spoke to was a former local resident who had moved to California. She took her maiden name as her middle name, took her married name as her last name, and answers to both. Double naming is not common in Monroe County, although some local women do that or hyphenate to a new last name. But her choice also was considered unusual where she was living. Almost all the married women she knew in California never changed their legal name at all from their maiden names.

Now for the local numbers: Statistics from the 712 divorces and annulments reported by Monroe County Circuit Court in 2003 showed 96 percent of the women had used their husband’s last name during the marriage. About 2 percent kept their maiden name throughout the marriage, and about 2 percent hyphenated both names.

During that same year, 30 percent of local women who took their husband’s name returned to their maiden name at divorce. A handful made other name changes, such as hyphenating both names.

I have not run the numbers for an update, but it appears from the recent court records that the number has increased to about two-thirds of local women taking a previous name back upon a divorce.