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Private_User804
Master November 2016

PSA - Addressing a Couple When She Kept Her Name

Private_User804, on March 18, 2016 at 3:25 PM

Posted in Etiquette and Advice 25

In a previous thread, several posters claimed that even if a woman chose to keep her name after marriage, the only "proper" way to address the couple in formal correspondence was still Mr and Mrs HisName. (@LDWed, CatsBoninCats, Ali) The Internets and Emily Post have come to the rescue and I am...

In a previous thread, several posters claimed that even if a woman chose to keep her name after marriage, the only "proper" way to address the couple in formal correspondence was still Mr and Mrs HisName. (@LDWed, CatsBoninCats, Ali)

The Internets and Emily Post have come to the rescue and I am pleased to tell you - that is NO LONGER TRUE. You can now acknowledge a woman's identity in addressing correspondence to a married couple without offending antiquated etiquette notions that only your grandma might actually care about!

http://emilypost.com/advice/guide-to-addressing-correspondence/

"Married, she uses maiden name:

Mr. John Kelly and Ms. Jane Johnson

Ms. Jane Johnson and Mr. John Kelly"

"To a married woman doctor or two married doctors:

If the woman uses her husband’s name socially, the address is “Dr. Barbara and Mr. James Werner.” If she uses her maiden name both professionally and socially, it is “Dr. Barbara Hanson and Mr. James Werner"

25 Comments

  • FormerUser
    Master July 2015
    FormerUser ·
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    @Zoe, Yeah, I go by Ms. married name. I'm a teacher, so my last name is basically my name all day long. Hearing the long Mrs. all day, every day just didn't feel quite right for me, so halfway through the year I just started using Ms.!

    That said: If I get mail addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Married Name or Mr. and Mrs. His Name, I don't go through an identity crisis because I know that the sender is just trying to have MANNERS.

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  • K
    Super October 2016
    kphmitten ·
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    Awesome!

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  • M
    Devoted June 2016
    Mrs1.732 ·
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    I am widowed so I started using Ms... Because technically I am still married although I am single. When I'm remarried I will start using Mrs. His last name... no identity absorption or anything....

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  • Private_User804
    Master November 2016
    Private_User804 ·
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    @jewles, it's not about the last name (though you really should make an effort to use their actual last name). It's about the "tradition" of addressing Ms Jane Smith as Mrs David Johnsin, which DOES obliterate her identity as it wholly subsumed it under her husband's first and last names. That's the tradition I'm referring to not "having" to follow anymore.

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  • 2d Bride
    Champion October 2009
    2d Bride ·
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    @Zoe D.: Actually, the whole point of Ms. was to avoid sorting women by marital status. Before that, it was Mrs. or Miss. Ms. works for married, single, divorced, or widowed women, regardless of whether they have changed their names.

    And for the rest: There is no way it is "correct" to address a woman by a name that is not hers. If my name is Jane Smith and my husband's is John Doe, it would be as incorrect to address me as Doe as to address him as Smith.

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