Many's a time I see queries on the various newsgroups about the use of Irish maiden names. Funny that I never thought to question it. I imagine that it is related to our Irish names - that is, names through Irish. When we use our names through Irish - the literal translation for a woman is 'daughter of' - Ní XX and for a married woman it is 'wife of' - Uí XX. We never stop being the daughter of whoever. As a married woman I can chose whether or not my name will be written as wife of or daughter of. and then again , through Irish I can write my surname in either of its variants...the way they spell it in Cork which is where my family originally came from or the way they spell it in Galway which is where they migrated to way back whenever. If I was an Irish speaker back in the 1800's and my husband died, I would automatically revert to my maiden name - daughter of....or I could say I was the widow of - but as Gaeilge that would be too long...... So, I guess that's why so many used their maiden name. A bit of female emancipation the Irish way. The mother was a very important person in Irish society, in a way we were a matriarchal society.....while she didn't earn the money she ruled the roost....in most cases. There is an Island - in the South Pacific I think, called little Ireland....and the people there - their society is very much a matriarchal one. The children they take their mothers surname such as it is. Jane