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I know that the situation regarding marriage and surnames is now very different from what it was in Victorian times. Three reasons (but not the only three) are that:-
1) In this post feminist (so I'm told!) era many women resent the convention of taking the man's surname at marriage. It harks back to days when she was seen as a chattel or a possession.
2) Many couples do not go though with marriage now but simply cohabit
3) Women prior to marriage are now able to make careers in their own right and in their own name. If a woman has made a name for herself in a given field she may not want to give up that name when she marries.
My main question is this:-
What is the convention (if there is one) as to what name women use in the case of divorce? When I was younger it was the case that if a woman was widowed, she retained her married surname, but if she divorced, she often reverted to her maiden name.
Also in the modern world, if a woman divorces then remarries, under what name does she marry the second time, her maiden name or her married name from her first marriage?
In Victorian times it seems to be that a woman remarried under the name of her former husband and did not revert to her maiden name.
In my own family tree my great grandmother, born 1841, married at least 4 times, and in only one case was this due to being widowed. But in every case her name on the marriage certificate is that of her previous husband.
So her maiden name was Williamson
1) She married a man named Lawson under the name Dorothy Williamson. He died
2) She married a man named Gibson under the name Dorothy Lawson. They divorced.
3) She married a man named Conroy under the name Dorothy Gibson. They divorced (we think)
4) She married (possibly bigamously) a man named Bell under the name Dorothy Conroy. Bell predeceased her and she may have married again as we cannot find her death under her last known name.
She is a genealogist's nightmare, especially so as none of these men was my grandfather's father!
So what are the rules, if any about married and maiden names today?
1) In this post feminist (so I'm told!) era many women resent the convention of taking the man's surname at marriage. It harks back to days when she was seen as a chattel or a possession.
2) Many couples do not go though with marriage now but simply cohabit
3) Women prior to marriage are now able to make careers in their own right and in their own name. If a woman has made a name for herself in a given field she may not want to give up that name when she marries.
My main question is this:-
What is the convention (if there is one) as to what name women use in the case of divorce? When I was younger it was the case that if a woman was widowed, she retained her married surname, but if she divorced, she often reverted to her maiden name.
Also in the modern world, if a woman divorces then remarries, under what name does she marry the second time, her maiden name or her married name from her first marriage?
In Victorian times it seems to be that a woman remarried under the name of her former husband and did not revert to her maiden name.
In my own family tree my great grandmother, born 1841, married at least 4 times, and in only one case was this due to being widowed. But in every case her name on the marriage certificate is that of her previous husband.
So her maiden name was Williamson
1) She married a man named Lawson under the name Dorothy Williamson. He died
2) She married a man named Gibson under the name Dorothy Lawson. They divorced.
3) She married a man named Conroy under the name Dorothy Gibson. They divorced (we think)
4) She married (possibly bigamously) a man named Bell under the name Dorothy Conroy. Bell predeceased her and she may have married again as we cannot find her death under her last known name.
She is a genealogist's nightmare, especially so as none of these men was my grandfather's father!
So what are the rules, if any about married and maiden names today?
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