I did a search on the word “maiden” and phrase “maiden name” for all forums for the past year (titles only), and didn’t get an answer. So if you have seen this here before, my apologies.
A number of legal documents have been passed around my family the past few months, and every single one of the documents refer to my married sisters in First, Maiden, Married name order, ala “Abby Lynn Reese” becomes “Abby Reese Johnson” when she marries a Mr. Johnson.
Except one.
A cover letter sent to my sister referred to her as Abby Lynn Reese (her original name). This caused my uncle (who is quite anal about these things and insufferably sure of his correctness) to send an email to the lawyers and everybody else in the family, stating that her name was wrong and needs to be changed to Abby Lynn Johnson.
Thinking “gotcha!”, I “replied to all”, saying that to match every other document in the packages, the cover letter actually needs to be changed to “Abby Reese Johnson” and not “Abby Lynn Johnson.”
So the assmunch* writes back in a snooty letter - 2(!) of them in fact, telling me I was wrong and how dare I dare I say such a thing, to wit:
Well, I am not letting this one go. I can’t, dammit!
Here is my question:
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Who is right? Where is a source (Mrs. Manners?) that states that first/maiden/married is a proper social convention? Is there a source on my Uncles** first/original middle/married naming convention? I know these things do not mean as much as they used to, but I’m sure there’s something out there…
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Are there any sources that I can reference that speaks of name continuity in legal documents, ala, the radical idea that maybe one should refer to the same person by the exact same name in all documents pertaining to the same legal issue? Some regulation or suggestion from the ALA would do wonders… but then, this is the guy who actually contested the feasibility of using Prozac for OCD, regardless of whatever www.fda.gov .PDF document I could link him (including their approved labeling and usage (PDF document, about 85k)).
By the way, the reason I didn’t Pit or Debate this is that I didn’t want a long discussion on the psychology of Uncle Assmunch or the modernity of old-fashioned naming conventions. If somebody wants to start that thread in their proper forums, feel free. But only if you try to answer this one.
Thank you.
*I abjectly and humbly apologize to all those who may be assmunchers or who belongs to the Assmuncher Anti-Defamation League. Other than Uncle Assmunch, of course.
** Damned apostrophe’s!!! Uncle’s? Uncles’ Uncles? AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! :mad: