Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-12-08
NOT TAKE HURBYs NAME.
Kansas Wife May Induce Husband to
Assume Her Cognomen.

In Kansas, If a woman desires,
when she is married to q man, she may
continue to use her maiden name ana
he may use his surname and there
would Dc no law that could stop IT,
Only custom could compel the woman
to change her name and accept that
OF her husband. No less authority
than the Kansas attorney general,
Fred S. Jackson, has given out TINS
view in an official opinion.
A young woman was commissioned
a notary public and afterward decided
to get married. She still wanted to
retain her notary work and asked tho
attorney general il it would be neces-
sary to get new commission and seal
after the marriage. The attorney gen.
eral replied that this was not neces-
sary and that she could continue to
use her old name and pay no attention
to that of her husband. Also, If she
desiIed she could use her maiden sur
name for all business transactions and
use the name of her husband socially.
Just as little extra advice, the at
torney told the young woman that il
her powers Of persuasion were SUI
ficient, she might prevail upon her
soon-to-be spouse that her name was
the best and that he ought to drop his
own and take up her name in its
stead.
There is nothing to prevent this"
said the attorney general. 1.-THE TAX
ing Of the name of the husband by
the wife is wholly q mater OF custom
and not Of law. The husband is the
head of the family, and custom gives
him the right 70 fix the name for the
Family. If yourself and your husband
are no. satisfied with either of your
surnames, there is nothing except the
criticisms of The public to prevent YOU
picking out some other name in the
dictionary Of proper names and take
it for your own. When you are mar
ried, your husband may elect to
change his name to yours, or he may
decide on something else. That be-
comes the name of the family, and
you cannot change it. But there IS
no law which compels you to accept
it, You may retain your own sur
name and You and your husband may
live under different Names
While all things are possible under
the Kansas law, and il is also possible
for man to change his name at will.
Still the attorney general does not
like the idea Of a woman retaining her
maiden name when she is married
In his letter to the woman he says
that she would not violate any law
If she continued to act as q notary
public and use her maiden name after
her marriage, still he believes that
she ought to give up the business and
attend strictly 30 her household du-
tics.
IN some countries it is customary for
the husband to assume the name CT
MS wife when they are married or the
names are joined by a hyphen. In
some states it is required that the
vile assume the name CT the hus-
banQ or the statutes SO constructed
ana construed as to make the old
established custom a law. Eut In
kansas there is no law on the subject
AT all although the courts in grant
ing divorces restore the maiden name
When asked for. The attorney general
Went through all the law books the
state owns where mention OF the sub
1ect could be found, and he could find
hothlnS to prevent q woman retaining
hef maiden name after marriage. a
man changing his own name to that
OF ms VIE, q man changing his name
any time, or adopting new family
name, or woman transacting busi-
ness over her maiden name after mar.
laSe.-Philadelphia North American.