Community Chat

[J Town Girl]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

It's my understanding that your signature doesn't have to be spelled like your legal name, for instance your married name. A signature is merely a marking on paper used to identify/verify a person's identity. 

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You are correct.   When I married my husband I hyphenated my maiden name along with his name.   But when I sign my checks or other papers I just sign as my first name and my married name.   I usually leave out my maiden name.  

The reason I chose to keep my maiden name was because I just wanted to keep that tie to my family and past life.  

My MIL didn't understand why I did that but her opinion didn't really matter to me.  My husband completely understood and he was the only one who counted.

[J Town Girl]

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@ValuSkr wrote:

When I send greeting cards to older relatives and friends, it's hard to know whether to address the envelope to Mrs. John Smith, or Mary Smith.  I've always assumed Mrs. John Smith is better - more formal, more respectful - especially for that age group,  But maybe I need to rethink that.

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I think what you do is fine.   When I worked I always called our clients by either Mr. or Mrs. or Ms.    After knowing them for a while many of them would ask me to call them by their first name.    If they didn't, I always used the formal greeting.  

[Solar Is My Name]

BEFORE THE MID-1970s a woman could not get a credit card IN HER OWN NAME!!

  

-Solar1

[Pearlee]

@qualitygal. I didn't want to give the OP, Somertime, a hard time because I like her.
But...I couldn't resist. 😈😄

[Mom2Dogs]

About 30 years ago my neighbor went to the local Woman's Welcome Club, first question out of their mouth was where does you husband work and where do you live......we never went back.  I am not sure why either mattered since we were all women and wanted to be involved in the community...of course we didn't live on the right side of town nor did our husbands work at the 'right' place in town.

To answer the OP...I sign my birth name along with my married last name.

[CrazyKittyLvr2]

@Lucky Charm   She came in a store I worked at and I usually worked alone.  She would sign her checks or cc receipts as Mrs. John Smith. We would chat but I never asked her name. It was clear how she wanted to be known so I called her Mrs. Smith.

It was weeks later and my supervisor was there and knew her.  That was the first time I heard her called Susan.

[Gorgf]

This is going to sound very strange but after my divorce I kept my ex's last name, four letters. My Maiden name was one I had to continually spell and it was long. I also did not want to make an issue in the School as the students and staff were used to Mrs. So in so and I said  to myself ,it is just a name. When I married hyphenated last names were trendy but then  one had to sign two last names. I knew who I was and that is all that mattered.

In the office I worked at the Secretary was old school and sent out mailings to Mrs. Charles so in so. Some of the women complained but she told me it was for the Mail Carrier to ensure mail delivery. She was single all her life??? Go figure!

[Icegoddess]

First name, middle initial, last name.  However, I think my voter registration is First Name, Maiden Name, Last Name, so if I ever need to vote absentee I'll need to verify that.  

I have never gone my Mrs.  In fact, once when I received a credit card invitiation I wrote back that I was not and never had been Mrs. so and so, but the name I went by.  Guess I didn't need that Discover Card anyways.  No big loss.  At the time, they charged a yearly fee.

[Icegoddess]

@Gorgf my current last name is one I always spell and yet people still get it wrong because they want to use a "u" instead of and "e".  I have the same issue with my street name.  

[Pearlee]

I always wonder how an ex husband feels when his ex keeps his last name. I think if I were the ex husband I probably wouldn't like it (esp if I remarried but even if not) unless it was to maintain uniformity with the children's last name.

I'll never be in that situation so it doesn't matter at all but have wondered about it every now and then.