What's her last name? "Janice Wallace-Robinson"

Question

Hello...
I was reading an article online and saw this person's name "Janice Wallace-Robinson". I was wondering what's her last name? Wallace-Robinson? Robinson? or Wallace? I think it should be Wallace-Robinson, but it sounds weird to me if somebody calls her Ms. Wallace-Robinson. What do you think?

Kate

MountainHiker · Accepted Answer

Kate,

My thinking is that her maiden name is Wallace. Her husband's surname is Robinson. She has deliberately and legally changed her last name to Wallace-Robinson. So it is Ms. Wallace-Robinson.

Hope that helps.

MountainHiker

Ilovetako · Answer

Hello MountainHiker,
Since she is married, shouldn't it be Mrs. Wallace-Robinson?

Kate

MountainHiker · Answer

Hi Kate,

It may or may not be. Many women don't like "Mrs." even if they are married. "Mrs." has a "property" connotation. Ms. is equivalent to Mr. It is seen as equals.

Miss - single
Ms. - single, divorced, widowed, separated, married, gay, straight, whatever....
Mrs. - married

I always use Ms. unless the person mentions that she prefers Mrs.

I once answered a question from a person who thought that if Shelly Robinson was married to Jack Robinson, she should be referred to as Mrs. Jack Robinson. She is the wife of Jack Robinson. While that might be technically correct, I would not, in this day and age, refer to a woman as Mrs. Jack Robinson. That completey robs her of her own identity. I might refer to her as Mrs. Shelly Robinson. Or preferably, Ms. Shelly Robinson. But not Mrs. Jack Robinson.

To sum up, unless I know otherwise, I personally prefer Ms. over Mrs. It seems to be more equivalent to Mr. and puts the woman on an equal footing to her male counterpart.

Hope that helps.

MountainHiker

Guest · Answer

I agre with the use of Ms unless you know someone prefers Miss or Mrs.

Regarding the original question, it is also quite possible that either some ancestors of hers combined their names upon marriage so she has had a hyphonated surname since birth.

Surnames are interesting things and the 'rules' are getting much more flexible. The 'correct' form of calling a woman by her husbands first name i.e. Mrs Jack Frost is now sounds exceedingly old-fashioned and I think most women would be seriously offended by it. Perhaps a few older (70+) women might still use it, but I doubt it.

And of course, there is no legal requirement (in Britain anyway) for a woman to change her name at all on marriage. I retained my own name when I married 18 years ago and although I did encounter some opposition (invariably from middle-aged men who seemed to see some sort of personal insult to them in it, I don't understand why) at the time, it is not all that uncommon now. The majority of women change their name, but some do not.

I have even known a couple both adopt an entirely new surname when they married, as they didn't really like either of their original names.

What's her last name? "Janice Wallace-Robinson"

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