Taking Spouse’s Last Name with an Affix

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

I know that a wife taking a husband’s last name requires nothing more than the marriage certificate, while making other changes to the name requires a court order.

 

In many cultures, though, male and female last names are spelled differently due to affixes.

 

So, is the court order required in this case, or would a marriage certificate be sufficient? Do marriage certificate issuing authorities, in the US, allow family name affixes and/or recognize last names spelled differently due to affixes as the same last name?

 

Thank you.

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

For California in particular, am I interpreting correct that this indeed would be allowed?

 

California Code, Family Code - FAM § 306.5:

...

(b)(1) One party or both parties to a marriage may elect to change the middle or last names, or both, by which that party wishes to be known after solemnization of the marriage by entering the new name in the spaces provided on the marriage license application without intent to defraud.

(2) A person may adopt any of the following last names pursuant to paragraph (1):

...

(C) A name combining into a single last name all or a segment of the current last name or the last name of either spouse given at birth.

...

 

[Yuliya Lipina 64]

47 minutes ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

I know that a wife taking a husband’s last name requires nothing more than the marriage certificate, while making other changes to the name requires a court order.

 

In many cultures, though, male and female last names are spelled differently due to affixes.

 

So, is the court order required in this case, or would a marriage certificate be sufficient? Do marriage certificate issuing authorities, in the US, allow family name affixes and/or recognize last names spelled differently due to affixes as the same last name?

 

Thank you.

Does your marriage certificate show the affix/ending? I think if you would want anything added to the last name that is not on marriage certificate that would technically be a name change. Name change requires going through court. 

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

That is the question, is it allowed or not. Have not filed for the marriage certificate yet. Sill waiting for NOA2 here, and contemplating the future steps.

 

Does my English comprehension seem logical to you? The law says that a part of a last name may be combined, but it does not say combined with what; so I assume it can be combined with anything, including affix.

 

In other words help me translate from lawyer language to human.

 

Any personal experiences with this are also appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

Let us use an example.

 

If your husband’s last name is Lipin, and your madden last name is Smith, on the APPLICATION FOR LICENSE AND CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE, under the NEW LAST NAME for the wife, are you allowed to list Lipina?

 

So the husband’s last name after the marriage stays the same as he had before, Lipin. And the wife takes the new last name, Lipina.

Lipin and Lipina are spelled differently. The last “a” in Lipina is an affix.

 

I hope I am making myself clear.

 

Thank you.

[Yuliya Lipina 64]

6 minutes ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

That is the question, is it allowed or not. Have not filed for the marriage certificate yet. Sill waiting for NOA2 here, and contemplating the future steps.

 

Does my English comprehension seem logical to you? The law says that a part of a last name may be combined, but it does not say combined with what; so I assume it can be combined with anything, including affix.

 

In other words help me translate from lawyer language to human.

 

Any personal experiences with this are also appreciated.

 

Thank you.

I get what you’re saying. I think what is meant is that you can go from being Smith to being Brown-Smith for example. I think that’s what they mean by combining. However, I have heard that there are quite a few people out there who actually get a completely different last name that have nothing to do with any of the spouses pre-marital last names. This sort of paves the way for cases like yours, because I still think that adding suffixes or endings to your spouse’s last will be viewed as taking a different last name since English doesn’t operate in the way Ukrainian language does. Bottom line you would have to ask your local office that issues the marriage licenses if you can spell your new last name in any way you want or if there are specific rules you will have to abide by.

[Yuliya Lipina 64]

3 minutes ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

Let us use an example.

 

If your husband’s last name is Lipin, and your madden last name is Smith, on the APPLICATION FOR LICENSE AND CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE, under the NEW LAST NAME for the wife, are you allowed to list Lipina?

 

So the husband’s last name after the marriage stays the same as he had before, Lipin. And the wife takes the new last name, Lipina.

Lipin and Lipina are spelled differently. The last “a” in Lipina is an affix.

 

I hope I am making myself clear.

 

Thank you.

I don’t think that American legislation was written with Slavic languages in mind. You need to confirm with the local authority if they allow an applicant to choose and change spelling of the last name. I don’t see the reason why they won’t allow you to do so, but every state and county has its own set of regulations.

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

I found the applicable law; it is just that whoever wrote the law has miserably failed at the William Strunk Jr. elementary principle of composition number sixteen: use definite, specific, concrete language.

 

So, your interpretation of the California law, I cited, is that it pertains to hyphenated names and would not apply to affixes.

 

Thank you.

[Yuliya Lipina 64]

3 minutes ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

I found the applicable law; it is just that whoever wrote the law has miserably failed at the William Strunk Jr. elementary principle of composition number sixteen: use definite, specific, concrete language.

 

So, your interpretation of the California law, I cited, is that it pertains to hyphenated names and would not apply to affixes.

 

Thank you.

You can still give them a call and see if they allow you to spell your new last name in the way you decided.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Yuliya Lipina

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

Thank you, I will call them. But I really have no hope that some underpaid and tired office worker would have a clue what I am talking about. I might get surprised, who knows…

Maybe some VJ forum members will chime in with personal experiences.

Edited November 8, 2017 by OutOfThisWorld

[Yuliya Lipina 64]

26 minutes ago, OutOfThisWorld said:

Thank you, I will call them. But I really have no hope that some underpaid and tired office worker would have a clue what I am talking about. I might get surprised, who knows…

Maybe some VJ forum members will chime in with personal experiences.

I hope it will be doable. I wish you luck and patience with the bureaucratic hurdles you will have to deal with. I myself have to change my first name at naturalization because its current spelling  "Iuliia" drives me crazy.

[gregcrs2 1,777]

OP, why would you even want to change it?  Per my Ukrainian wife, Ukrainians don't change family name unless taking husband's family name.  

Edited November 8, 2017 by gregcrs2

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

1 hour ago, gregcrs2 said:

OP, why would you even want to change it?  Per my Ukrainian wife, Ukrainians don't change family name unless taking husband's family name.  

That is what is happening. My wife to be wans to take my last name. There is just going to be an affix added to it.

 

Some last names have gender. The spelling and pronouncuation are different for males and females. Ours is one of those last names.

[OutOfThisWorld 87]

Actually, I think we are in luck. The affix we want to use, just happened to be present inside the maden name. So we can skirt by the combined name rule, no matter how you interpret it.

 

We will just tell them that the affix is a segment of the other last name, if they object.

 

Seems logical, though, that this should be allowed anyway.

[C-ma'am 684]

**Post moved from K1 to Off Topic where similar topics are discussed. Question is not related to immigration.