Sam and Aaron Taylor Johnson, Dawn O’Porter... meshing surnames has become the biggest coupling trend of the century so far. In 2015, it's more common than ever to see both men and woman eschewing traditional practices of taking one name in favour of writing their own post-nuptial naming rules, but one term has so far refused to budge. Is it time we gave the 'maiden name' the boot?
Historically, the term has been used to describe a virginal or sexually inexperienced woman, and is still very much in use despite abstinence before marriage being considered unreflective of modern society. Now that, so studies show, the numbers of women giving up their family names are steadily falling - and, taking a lead from celebrities like Zoe Saldana and her husband - men are increasingly taking up their wives' names after marriage, the term 'maiden name' could not only be seen as diminuative, but also pretty outdated.
Or do you disagree? We here at the Grazia office are divided. Some are in favour of the word, with it conjuring up visions of Maid Marian and Robin Hood walking hand in hand through Sherwood Forest, not to mention a few flashbacks to watching the Disney film as a kid. And, anyway, what's in a name?
There’s also no way for us to ignore the implications for same sex or intersex marriages. Who’s the ‘maiden’ in a gender fluid relationship? Are both married women expected to swap last names? As relationships themselves become less 'traditional', isn't time the language we used to talk about them caught up?
But do you think this is just an argument that doesn’t need to be had, or will you be switching to ‘name prior to marriage’ from now on, even if it is a bit of a mouthful?
By Jess Howard