If I may jump in here for a sec and say that both of you could be correct. I experienced a similar Surname mystery ... and when solved here is what had happened. The woman in question had married very early in life (like at 14yo) and her husband died soon thereafter. Thus she carried her husbands last name as her own for most of her teen years. When she remarried later on in her twenties, everyone thought her first husband's surname was her maiden name; which of course was not the case. Could this have happened in your case? Alexs