California not Sussex

[CaliforniaNotSussex]

I was born and grew up on the Surrey Sussex border. My brother currently lives in Sussex, my mum spent her retirement in Sussex, my grandparents lived in Sussex their whole lives, I had Saturday and holiday jobs in Sussex, my friends at school lived in Sussex.

I do not like or agree with Ms Markle having the 'Duchess of Sussex' title. She has spent all of 6 hours of her entire life here. She doesn't represent or care about me and the rest of the population of Sussex. She doesn't even like the UK. She will probably never set foot in the UK again, she hates our royal family and our country.

I cant really do much about the title being given to her. But now she wants people to refer to her as 'Meghan Sussex' according to her new netflix show.

Why?????

Why Meghan do you want you and your family to have a surname of a place you have barely ever been to, know nothing about, and which is located in a country you dislike and will never return to?

Can't you call yourself Meghan California instead? You can call yourself anything informally, and if you want to change your name formally, there is probably a way that you and Harry and the kids could adopt 'California' as your new surname.

Why oh why take/steal our home county as your new name. I get the 'duchess of Sussex' title is given to you, but you don't need to use it, and you definitely don't need to call yourself 'Meghan Sussex'.

(Some of) The people of Sussex do not want you to have our name

If you want our name then come visit. Spend time here. Visit the locals, buy OUR jam, invest in OUR schools, donate money to local charities, show interest in the place you have adopted as yours. Visit us regularly. Learn about the culture, the people, the place.

AIBU for thinking Meghan should make the effort to get to know Sussex if she now wants to be called 'Meghan Sussex'? If she doesn't want anything to do with us and will never come here again, she shouldn't call herself 'Meghan Sussex'.

Georges birth certificate said HRH George (middle names) of Cambridge. Surely this is effectively saying his surname is cambridge even though I know officially it is not called a surname?
Mountbatten-Windsor was just a made up solution for when they needed a surname. It has no legal standing.

And Page Six say both Harry and William used the surname Wales when serving in the forces. They share a photo where they are both wearing official flight suits with their names on and the surname Wales.

Absolutely pathetic, she did not give herself the title. You could say that for all of the royals with titles. I swear the hatred for this woman is drenched in racism. She has been in America for years, yet you still go on about her. It is so weird.

Yabu.

It’s her title and surname, she can use it if she wants.

Mountbatten-Windsor was just a made up solution for when they needed a surname. It has no legal standing.

To be fair, all surnames at one time or another were a "made up solution", including yours and mine. There is a difference between one's surname on official documents and a "styled as" surname used unofficially in daily life. The first has "legal standing" because, for example, if you committed a crime it is the name you would be charged in and when you die it will be surname recorded on your death certificate. The latter doesn't.

I have never changed from my birth surname to my married surname. Sometimes people refer to me as Mrs X but officially/legally I am not. If I booked a plane ticket in Mrs X name I would be refused boarding as it doesn't match the official surname on my passport.

Just tangentially, it's not a legal requirement to have a surname at all in the UK. I've worked with someone who didn't have one. She just had X in the surname box in her passport as the system requires something to be in there but it isn't her surname.

@PinkArt that's fascinating! It would be so cool to have X instead of a surname. Was she from the UK or another country?

From the UK. We didn't work together for long so I didn't want to pry but I think for personal reasons she didn't want to use the surname she got from her parents and then must have found out you don't need one at all. So she just went by one name, like Cher.

I cringed when I seen her correct the woman in her show and told her it’s Sussex and not Markle. Then proceeded to explain why saying how important it is to have the same name as her children. Completely oblivious and alienating millions of women who don’t share the same name as their kids.

It’s not weird at all, as there is a new Netflix documentary specifically about her so that’s why the OP started this thread.

Nothing to do with racism. When they first got together most people thought she was a breath of fresh air for the RF. It’s her personality that put people off her.

No one in my family shares exactly the same family name. DH and I each have our own and DC has both.

If another woman sees relinquishing her own name as important to her personally, I couldn't care less. It means something to her, and affects me not one iota.

That’s fine and I share your views personally, however there can still be a stigma with unmarried couples/divorced women and single mothers. Some women may feel shame (though they shouldn’t obviously) but when a celeb says ‘we need the same name bla bla’ it reinforces the stereotype imo.

FFS, what bollocks! She said important TO HER . She's not alienating millions, not least because who could possibly care?
Get a grip

Plenty of people that’s who! Celebs have so much influence, too much.

If celebs are having undue influence on people, that's on them. Everyone has the power to just ignore them.

what about Megan Windsor

but that’s not how ‘influencers’ work. Some people try to emulate celebs and
people in the public eye and some hand on their every word.

So? That's their choice. Everyone has the choice to ignore.

but they don’t do they that’s the point. Especially someone who wants to portray herself as wholesome and doing good. It’s good to be mindful as to how things you may say could be perceived. Why even correct the woman in the first place. She’s known as MM and so what…

I'm not sure what your point is here?

That’s she made a big deal about being called MM and corrected the woman.

And what?

You’ll have to go back through the comments as I’ve already explained it.

There's an irony to your resenting Meghan for correcting Mindy about what her married name is, when you refer to Mindy Kaling as 'the woman'!

She's allowed to articulate her thoughts and you are allowed to ignore them/understand they don't apply to you.

This isn't hard.