I was pondering the term "maiden name" when talking with BE speakers recently. They don't seem to have that term. So my question is two-fold:
One: Is there another term for "maiden name," especially in British English?
Two: Does anyone find "maiden" a little offensive? I mean, is it OK to call an unmarried woman a "maiden?"
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The word "maiden" (at least in the UK) is now essentially an obsolete word. It's not that anyone would find it particularly offensive, so much as it's basically not used any more. (As with other obsolete words, it's occasionally used for irony, so you might jokingly refer to somebody as a "fair maiden", but the intent is humoristic rather than to cause offence.) But, as is often the case, this obsolete word survives in the fixed phrase "maiden name", which is still perfectly common in British usage. I don't think anyone finds it offensive-- it's just an administrative term, and the word "maiden", offensive or not, is as I say to all intents and purposes no longer used anyway. People are generally familiar with the term because it's very very common for banks to ask you, for example, what your "mother's maiden name" is. However, as English is an international language, now spoken by more non-native than native speakers, there's also a move to try and avoid obscure terms, or deliberately choose alternatives whose meaning is more obvious to speakers of other languages. So it's possible we may see a move towards alternatives such as "Family name before you were married". |
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In written (esp. formal) English the term "née" (literally, born) is used to denote the surname at birth, e.g Barbara Smith née Jones. Maiden name is definitely alive and well and in use in Britain, as Neil said - mother's maiden name is a very common 'security' question for banks. I'd also agree maiden is very archaic used on its own. |
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Oh yes, we do, but it's perhaps a little archaic. Alternatives might be 'unmarried name' or 'name before you were married'. Others will have to say whether it's offensive or not, but changing patterns of marriage and cohabitation make it seem less relevant than it once was. |
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In answer to your two: Technically "maiden" refers to whether the young lady in question has experienced sexual intercourse before or not. Perhaps there was a day when this was very salient information in social situations, but today is not such a day. Use of the word by itself to refer to a female would carry the implication that you consider the woman's past sexual history your business, which it almost certianly is not. So it really should be avoided in all but the most unusual of cases. The term "Maiden Name" can be considered one of those cases. It is fairly safe to assume that at some point (birth at least), every woman qualified, so it is fairly reasonable as a shorthand to refer what their name was at that point in the indeterminate past. |
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A maiden is an "unmarried" woman. Therefore, a woman's "maiden name" is her "unmarried" (last) name, the one she received from her father. A woman's married name is the one she receives from her husband. Some women nowadays do not take their husband's surname, and therefore continue to use their "maiden" name. Women are seldom referred to as maidens anymore (except in jest), but as a qualifier to "name," the term has "stuck." |
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I'm not sure how you got that impression. The term is very much alive and well and is the standard terminology for a married woman's surname pre-dating her marriage. However, the degree to which some people don't recognise their own language can be staggering at times. |
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