Married and Maiden Names
When a woman marries, she usually adopts the surname of her husband and uses her father's surname (her maiden surname) as her middle name and drops her mother's maiden name (her former middle name). Some women may decline to adopt their husband's surname and continue to use their maiden names for professional or personal reasons.
- When a woman whose full maiden name is Mara Hautea Schnittka (where her given name is "Mara", mother's maiden surname is "Hautea", and father's surname is "Schnittka"; this is normally shortened to "Mara H. Schnittka") marries a man by the name of Andrés Miguel Cojuangco, her full name becomes Mara Schnittka Cojuangco (shortened to "Mara S. Cojuangco").
- For the sake of brevity, she would be usually known at the very least as Mara Cojuangco; her maiden name is usually not mentioned or it may simply be abbreviated as an initial (Mara S. Cojuangco). In many cases, her maiden name may be mentioned.
- All children from this marriage will automatically have "Schnittka" as their middle name and "Cojuangco" as their last name, but they may have any number of first/given names as the parents wish (usually one to three).
- Their child, "Rafael Dominic", will have a full name of Rafael Dominic Schnittka Cojuangco shortened to Rafael Dominic S. Cojuangco when using initials. "Rafael Dominic S. Cojuangco" will be the preferred way of rendering the name. Depending on family or personal preference, the child may use either "Rafael" or "Dominic" as his primary given name.
- If for space constraints, the aforementioned Rafael Dominic S. Cojuangco cannot use this preferred way of writing his name, he would most likely choose to write his name as "Rafael S. Cojuangco" or "Rafael D. S. Cojuangco" (keeping the mother's maiden name) instead of just "Rafael D. Cojuangco " (the generally American custom).
Until the middle of the 20th century, it was common for married Filipino women to insert the particle "de" ("of") between her maiden surname and husband's surname (as in Mara Schnittka de Cojuangco or Mara S. de Cojuangco), another common Spanish naming custom. However, this practice is no longer common.
Married Filipino women who are professionals may choose to hyphenate their surnames (such as "Mara Schnittka-Cojuangco," instead of simply "Mara Cojuangco" or "Mara S. Cojuangco"), at least in professional use, and use it socially even if legal documents follow the above naming pattern. This practice allows others to identify them after their marriage and helps others keep track of their professional achievements; otherwise, her unmarried and married names would seem to refer to two different persons ("Mara Hautea Schnittka" as compared to "Mara Schnittka Cojuangco").
Read more about this topic: Philippine Name
Famous quotes containing the words married, maiden and/or names:
“The touchstone for family life is still the legendary “and so they were married and lived happily ever after.” It is no wonder that any family falls short of this ideal.”
—Salvador Minuchin (20th century)
“The Maiden caught me in the Wild,
Where I was dancing merrily;
She put me into her Cabinet
And Lock’d me up with a golden Key.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Every man who has lived for fifty years has buried a whole world or even two; he has grown used to its disappearance and accustomed to the new scenery of another act: but suddenly the names and faces of a time long dead appear more and more often on his way, calling up series of shades and pictures kept somewhere, “just in case” in the endless catacombs of the memory, making him smile or sigh, and sometimes almost weep.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)