Virtually all of my 17th, 18th and some 19th century records for my predomintly Southern ladies used their maiden name as their middle name. Though I've never seen a legal requirement, it was probably more traditional in nature. The Yankee ladies, at least in our families, never seemed to hold to the 'tradition'. I guess it's kinda like our ladies of today who will hyphenate their maiden and married names....perhaps it's a cultural thing....much like Hispanic families who use various forms ['de' 'y' etc] of the spousal and offspring surname patterns. -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Judy Bennett" <judibennet@earthlink.net> > Lynne, > > My mother's middle name is her maiden name, COLLINS. Her signature was > Kathleen C. MITCHELL or Kathleen Collins MITCHELL. The same goes for > Mother's mother and grandmother. All official docs were signed by them using > the *maiden* name as the middle initial or fully spelled out as the middle > name. My middle name is my maiden name, MITCHELL. We are Southern and I've > never thought of it any other way until reading your post. But, now that you > mention it, I suppose my dear friends from other parts of the country now > after marriage commonly use their second given name as the middle name. > > That said, in researching my family in the north, I have seen women replace > their middle name with their maiden name there too. My gg-grandmother from > Maine is listed on her gravestone as Ann Elizabeth HALL - wife of Benjamin > Edward FLINT. Most Southern women I know still follow the tradition after > marriage and use their maiden name as their legal middle name. > > Family ties here were/are legally important. Husbands in SC could not sell > land without wives' forfeiting DOWER'S RIGHTS (her family rights) on the > contract/deed. Many very old graves list the name as Mary COLLINS (maiden), > *Consort* of John T. WILSON. They were, of course, husband and wife. More > recent graves might list Mary COLLINS and John WILSON or: > > WILSON > Mary Collins - John T. > > Take care, > Judy > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NCLINCOL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message