Miss/Ms/Mrs

Interesting theory. It's sad really, if all that marriage means to (some) people is becoming "Mrs Hisname" That and the wedding, the expensive celebration!

I'm quite "traditional" in that I wanted to be married before having children. I wanted the legal and financial commitment in order to feel emotionally secure. I wanted to celebrate our relationship and our commitment with family and friends. I did not want to become Mrs Hisname!

" but am surprised at the number of younger women who change their name (Yes I am a 50+ feminist!)"

My theory, of which I am convinced even though I have no evidence, is that this is due to the growth of cohabiting. The change of surname and the wedding rings are now the only outward signs of marriage.

I got married on Saturday and am keeping my name and title of Ms which I have used for the last 25 years. There seem to be persistent myths about Ms - I have had at least 2 sercretaries who insisted that I could only be called Ms if I had been divorced and only included Ms in my outgoing letters under difference. Not sure if is dying out but am surprised at the number of younger women who change their name (Yes I am a 50+ feminist!)

I switched from Miss to Ms when I left school. And have not changed it since.

I don't mind if people call me Mrs DHsurname socially, but I've never used it on an official document.

I always use Miss. I don't know, maybe I'd like to be a Mrs if I ever got married. I really don't mind. I'm not a feminist though.

Not in speech no but on letters yes.
Medical correspondence, passport form IIRC, and bank account.

"No one uses "master", though. DS (who is 2) has been Mr from birth! "

Not true that nobody uses master. It was definitely used when I worked for a call centre that serviced lawyers.
I don't think there are many situations when children are called by their title anyway, at least not in speech.

"In Europe terms like Madame and Senora generally denote an older woman whereas Mademoiselle and Senorita are for a younger female."

Only if you think 30 is older. Women under a certain age (probably about 25 or 30) have been called Mademoiselle in French-speaking countries. The move to using Madame for every woman is quite recent.

"Ms is slowly dying."

I completely disagree with that Mockers. I think it never took off in speech, but is becoming increasingly common in writing, used not just when a woman has chosen Ms, but when you don't know a woman's marital status or choice of title. I always use Ms at work, unless I already know the woman uses a different title.

No one uses "master", though. DS (who is 2) has been Mr from birth! We do get letters addressed to him as Mr which is mildly amusing.

Yes, as can 'Frau'. And Mrs used to be used for unmarried adult women in the U.K. It's been suggested on similar threads in the past that using miss for girls and Mrs for adult women would be fine - equivalent to Master/Mister for males. But that's not likely to happen.

I've always used Ms, so continued when we married, but I know one person who changed her honorative to Mrs but kept her surname. Keep using Miss if you want - theres no rules on it!

In Europe terms like Madame and Senora generally denote an older woman whereas Mademoiselle and Senorita are for a younger female.

Terms like Maîtresse tend not to fly.

I am married, replaced my father’s last name with my husbands for many reasons personal to me (kept my mothers last name which I also had), am a feminist, and go by Ms.

If someone calls me Miss or Mrs though I don’t care, it’s more when filling or forms and such where there is an election I will write Ms.

“Ms is slowly dying.“
Is it? Tell that to the Americans!

Ms is slowly dying.

Any stats to prove that?

It is becoming increasingly common for women to be call Mrs regardless, eg Mrs JK Rowling, or Mrs Merkel who is in reality Mrs Sauer.

Even supposing that's true, what we're discussing is how women wish to be referred to. And if the 'Mrs' isn't of the woman's choosing, I'm sure you'd agree it's rude to apply it to her. What do you mean by 'in reality Mrs Sauer' ... maybe she uses 'Frau Sauer' socially since remarriage, but it's entirely normal for women with any sort of public profile to retain a known name for professional purposes. Very common among scientists and performers.

I’ve used Ms ever since I got my first ATM card and have stuck with it faithfully despite being on husband number 3.

You can do whatever you like though, Miss/Mrs is only tradition, not law.

I was Ms until I qualified and have been Dr ever since. I didn’t take DH’s surname when we married and I still don’t use it now I’m widowed.
I’ve been a feminist since the early 70’s.

Ms is slowly dying.

It is becoming increasingly common for women to be call Mrs regardless, eg Mrs JK Rowling, or Mrs Merkel who is in reality Mrs Sauer.

That should say I do use my husband's name occasionally Mostly I go by my own, only when I can't be bothered to spell out my name or want to be in stealth do I use his.

No one calls grown women Miss anymore in the country I come from, so I've always used Ms. Since I got married, I've been using Ms or Mrs depending on the circumstances. Didn't change my name either, but I do use my husband's name because my own is difficult to spell and pronounce to people here and sometimes when I don't want to be immediately labelled an immigrant. My maiden name rather gives the game away. When I do use my maiden name I use Mrs, too. Which has led to the assumption sometimes that my husband is Mr CharlieParley instead of having his own name. An interesting bit of role reversal...

I used Ms since my teens, before and after marriage.

I've spent a long time working in US firms with US clients and I'm struggling to think of a single woman who went by anything other than Ms. It's. also the norm in business in the U.K. now.

I believe the use of 'Ms' is even more commonplace in the US than the U.K. (though I'll guess that may vary by state) - and also less use of titles anyway there. I think if I was you I'd just not use anything as far as possible, and Ms where there's a mandatory box to tick.