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From: bweiss@cs.arizona.edu (Beth Weiss)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Name Change After Marriage
Summary: terminology: maiden name vs birth name
Message-ID: <24693@megaron.cs.arizona.edu>
Date: 29 Aug 90 01:51:41 GMT
References: <220@sierra.STANFORD.EDU> <1990Aug27.193416.19394@tc.fluke.COM>
Sender: ambar@ora.com (Jean Marie Diaz)
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 13
Approved: ambar@ora.com

I have a great dislike of the term "maiden name" and prefer to use
"birth name" as the description of the name I've used since birth.
Since a "maiden" is considered to be an unmarried girl/woman, or
occasionally simply defined as a virgin, I find the use of the term
"maiden name" supportive of the traditional name change at the time a
virgin woman becomes a bride.  

I now find that I react to the term "maiden name" in much the same way
I react to hearing an adult female called a girl.  Any thoughts on
this topic? 

--beth
bweiss@cs.arizona.edu