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Original poster

Another one of my "theories" - this time about surnames

71 replies

Posey · 22/03/2004 21:16

I keep having these little theories and where better than here to get a good cross-section of the population to try it out.

Anyway, this theory is that people who have unusual surnames, or ones that people always ask you to spell, at birth, marry men who do too. Those with "normal" or "common" (don't take offence at those phrases) surnames have husbands with equally straightforward surnames.

So what about you?
I fall into the former group, although its recently got easier as there is a new celebrity with the same name.

OP posts:
Demented · 22/03/2004 22:38

Maiden name a nightmare, married name a nightmare. Always said I was going to marry a man with a nice 'common' surname, but alas that must be love for you.

CountessDracula · 22/03/2004 22:47

My maiden and married names both pretty common. That is not to say that they are spelt correctly very often

bobthebaby · 22/03/2004 23:19

Have to spell both on the phone, but at least my married one is shorter!

Ghosty · 23/03/2004 02:32

Maiden name unusual ... any others in the phone book would be related to me ...
Married name as boring as anything ... billions of them in the phone book ...
Sorry Posey

sibble · 23/03/2004 03:30

maiden name unusual, married name very common but still have to spell it as kiwi's have trouble understanding my english accent and think I am saying something completely different. Also have the same problem with DS's first name.

bloss · 23/03/2004 04:39

Message withdrawn

eidsvold · 23/03/2004 06:43

very ordinary maiden name - uncommon married name - always having to spell although it is so straight forward....

what about street names - Most streets I have lived in I have always had to spell....except one!! ( wow - just counted it up - 10 different streets and had to spell everyone of them)

mez75 · 23/03/2004 07:03

My surname used to be quite straight forward although i did have to spell it to a lot of people, but since I got married when people ask for my surname and I tell them they always say "No dear I mean your surname, not your first name" Surname is girls name, but they talk to me as though im thick. It really winds me up

SoupDragon · 23/03/2004 07:33

Both my surnames are proper words, one spelt slightly differently from the "thing" but even the one that's spelt exactly as I would expect gets mispelt.

fisil · 23/03/2004 07:46

Dp and I both have four letter surnames which have to spelled out every time. His is common, mine is fairly common.

MrsGrump · 23/03/2004 08:21

People can't spell or say my maiden name right; almost everyone can spell and say DH's name ok, though both names are uncommon (mine is virtually unheard of in Britain). Doesn't fit or defy your theory, Posey.
Looking around my family, same sort of result, mostly. Neither fits nor outright opposite of
Posey's theory.

fio2 · 23/03/2004 08:24

well my maiden name is irish and quite uncommon in england anyway, people never know how to spell it (dont know why, it isnt that difficult!!) and my husbands surname is COMMON but people still spell it wrong!

motherinferior · 23/03/2004 08:26

Oh, I fit, definitely. Not married but my surname is hard to spell in England (it's Swedish) and DP's ditto (it's Bengali)- his is not too hard in itself but frequently misspelled.

The kids have both. I think I should start saving up for their therapy bills now.

emsiewill · 23/03/2004 08:27

Married a man with the same (very common) Welsh surname as me. So I have the problem that when people ask me for my maiden name and I tell them, they look at me as though I'm thick and say "no dear, that means the name you had before you were married". And filling in forms is even worse - no space for explanation. When we got married the registrar asked if we were related, I really wanted to say "yes, we're brother and sister".

Even though the name is really common, people always seem really amazed when I tell them I married a man with the same name.

handlemecarefully · 23/03/2004 08:28

Sorry to disprove your theory. My maiden name was Ulliott (pretty unusual - you try finding one in the phone book). My Dh's surname is one of the most common you are ever likely to find (and I was so relieved - at least I am not forever required to repeat my name or spell it anymore)

fio2 · 23/03/2004 08:30

LOL emsiewill at your brother and sister comment

misdee · 23/03/2004 08:37

my maiden name is a comman irish one, (tho have never been, just what i've been told anyway), and my married name is a very comman surname, beginning with W ending in S, and is a boys name.
people always spelt my maiden name wrong, the second letter is E but everyone puts an I in there instead.

bluestar · 23/03/2004 08:56

I've always had to spell out my maiden name and also do with married name. Both are easy to pronounce but are open to lots of different possible spellings. So I guess I fit your theory!

Tetley · 23/03/2004 08:57

I always swore that when I married I would choose a man with a 'normal' surname as I was sick of always having to spell out my own name. However, I now have a surname that is even more difficult than my maiden name was, so I think that I definately fit your theory!

marthamoo · 23/03/2004 09:04

Maiden name was fairly normal, but prone to being misspelled. Married name is pain in the bum. It's a name that sounds like another, very common, name. So - say it was Smythe and you say it and they go "Smith" and you go "no Smythe...S M Y T H E" and they go "OK, then Mrs Smith."
I'm sure they think I'm just trying to say it is a posh way a la Hyacinth Bucket/Bouquet

marthamoo · 23/03/2004 09:07

On subject of names (funny as I was talking about this on MSN last night) dh had a great aunt called Nellie Jelly.

Now, I may be picky, but, if I was called Nellie and I met a bloke called Mr.Jelly I would run screaming for the hills. But no, she married him!

marialuisa · 23/03/2004 09:20

Not sure, surname at birth was long, hard to pronounce for British people and unspellable (foreign) but i changed to my then stepdad's surname as a teenager which is very ordinary but has about 4 spelling variations. I married a man with a double-barrelled surname but choose only to use the end part (another long but ordinary surname) and we chose to kill off the double barrel so DD has just got the second part as a surname.

Have to admit that having a "weird" surname made ,me miserable as a kid.

M2T · 23/03/2004 09:27

Well that's certainly true for me!! My surname was forever confusing people and I don't think it's THAT unusual.....my married name is even worse! Cool theory Posey.

Furball · 23/03/2004 10:38

My maiden name only had 3 letters and is actually a word and still people couldn't spell it! My married name is quite common but there are 3 different ways of spelling it so also have to say which one it is.

My christian name can also be spelt differently, so have to spell that out all the time, as is the road I live in, the district and the town.

lazyeye · 23/03/2004 10:47

My maiden name is relatively unusual, though there was once a song...."Brian * trousers".

My married name is a common Irish one I would have thought. We have been beatified several times over though through the post as Mr & Mrs St. Patrick.

Posey, you have too much time on your hands :0