Mrs or Ms after divorce

[NewMeforthemillionthtime]

Just read another thread about name change and a poster asked whether the op referred to herself as Mrs or Ms.

Just wondering about this as I have been divorced for over 10 years and never bothered changing back to my maiden name. My passport, DL bank accounts all say Mrs Married Name.

If I was going to go through the effort of reverting back to my maiden name I would probably also go from Mrs to Ms. But honestly, I love my married name so can't see the fuss with changing my title.

For clarity, my exH doesn't care and neither does my DP.

If you are keeping your married name, have you offiicially changed your title? If so, why?

"Miss is the traditional title for an unmarried woman".

Miss is the traditional for a free woman!

Interesting thread - I always thought Ms hinted at ‘divorced/never married’?

just thinking about my own friends and colleagues, all the married ones are Mrs.

Ms just means a woman. Says nothing about your marital status.

Ms just means a woman. Says nothing about your marital status.

In theory, I agree ……

If we're anecdoting, every Ms I know is married. Still wouldn't give it a meaning other than just a woman, though.

I have always used Ms. Didn't change my surname when I got married. So there would be no need to change my name if we got divorced.

Kids are double barrelled.

I quite like a good "Ma'am", especially if said in a long Texan drawl...

Just do what suits you. It is nobody else's business.

I have always been Miss My Own Name despite being married. For me it's about being a person with my own identity regardless of who I'm partnered with at the time.

Ms even before my divorce. Would never take a mans name.

Same!

Traditionally, Ms was indeed known as the title of divorced women, but these days more unmarried women are using it.

not Even a bit true
Ms has only been around a few decades so there is no 'tradition' but it was created by feminists to be the equivalent to Mr. If some dopeys misinterpreted that to mean divorced that just goes to show why it was so needed in the first place.

I switched to Ms a few years ago (not divorced - yet) and changed married name by deed poll back to maiden name. Never will I ever change it again (didn't want to in the first place, sort of got pushed into it). Unless I get a PhD, then I'll use Dr officially (that's in my dreams though...).

I am getting divorced but even before that I found it insulting to be referred to by my marital status. My place in society and my worth have nothing to do with whether I've got a contract with a (traditionally) man.

I will be encouraging my daughter to keep her name and never use Mrs.

Anyway, English speaking countries are quite unusual in the wife taking the married name and losing the maiden name. In Islam a married woman keeps her name. In much of Europe a maiden name is kept for official things and less official uses husband's name as tradition. In some countries they have the maiden and married/husband's name on the passport.

There's no need to change names or use Mrs in the first place.

I never changed my surname on marriage. I was always Ms Myname when I was married to exh (and before), but now I’m divorced I feel more like I’m Mrs Myname. Sort of like “this is fine, I’m staying as I am”.

Ms is a universal term like Mr. It was never designed for divorcees - that’s rubbish.

I was always a Ms before I got married and never changed my name when I did. That’s who I’ve always been and always will be. It’s the same concept for men. I was never anyone’s chattel.

This isn't true.

Use whatever title you want.

It's ridiculous that in 2022 women are still categorised according to their marital status whereas men are just Mr.

Titles Ms, Miss or Mrs are meaningless other than, for women only, supposedly denoting whether one is married or not. This is totally unnecessary now that women have equal property and voting rights.
A title is necessary to prevent receiving letters written to my first name, so I use Ms. My husband uses Mr.

I'm married.

When there's no option for 'Dr' I always use 'Ms' and have done since my teens.

DH and I have different surnames. I have a PhD; he doesn't. More than once if something has been booked in my name it's been assumed he is the 'Dr'.

Same! Except I went one step further and never even changed my name at all.

Facts.

Have always gone as Ms, and have kept maiden name. Am only calledMrs Married name in kids’ school related matters.
I know a number of women who are divorced or are divorcing, and I find it bizarre they are keeping the title Mrs Married Name. It’s like denial- and their husbands have treated them badly, I have no idea why they would want to remain connected to /identified with that

I have been a Ms since my early 20s, remain a Ms bow I’m married, and I were to ever divorce (not planning on it) I will stay a Ms. I have changed my surname though. I didn’t at first, neither of us wanted to when we first got married, but started talking about it when we decided to have a child. Neither of us like double barrelled names, so we had to decide which name to take and for various reasons I changed mine. Never my title though

Loving all the comments about "don't have time to be bothered about changing it/don't care enough" etc... From people who clearly cared enough to change their name and title to advertise the fact that they were married in the first place 🤦‍♀️😂

I'm Ms and kept my own name - because I'm genuinely not bothered enough to change my name or title for a bloke.

If married- Mrs or Ms
If divorced- Miss or Ms

I've always been Ms in my adult life. I think I had one document in Mrs after marriage. I'm not Brit by birth, I think it's a Brit thing to assume Ms. = divorced.