Are married Greek/Italian women not taking their husband's last name anymore based on this data?
Posted by lilac2481@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 50 comments
CaveMan800@reddit
Yes, it isn't common nowadays.
littlecastor@reddit
Not just uncommon. It's not legally possible to change your last name anymore.
Each spouse MUST keep their maiden name and, if they wish to, they can add the other's last name too.
Comicbookguy1234@reddit
This is an old comment, but why is it illegal?
littlecastor@reddit
Hey there. I did some further research and I was actually wrong. The article I read was phrased weirdly. The woman keeps her last name after the wedding BY DEFAULT (the article said obligatory).
In the past, changing her name was part of the wedding process. Now it's not; it's an independent process like everyone else who wants to change their name.
Comicbookguy1234@reddit
Thanks!
fretsyk@reddit
Is it only common for these days or a cultural stuff ?
Mestintrela@reddit
It is common since lets say more than 50 years.
But casually a woman can be called by her husband's surname.
ChampYT245@reddit
Odd here in australia most italians and greek wifes take their husbands name
saddinosour@reddit
Because it makes sense to do so here in Australia, if I was in Greece I wouldn’t but here or in the US it makes sense to take your husbands surname because it is a cultural norm. My mum even told me growing up that in Greece women don’t take their husbands surnames. I don’t know if she is right but my mum framed it as, it being too difficult to file all the paperwork to change their names so they just don’t.
TopCumManufacturer@reddit
the state doesnt force you, unlike in germany for example
Lopsided_Session1504@reddit
Germany forces you to take your husband’s name or forces you to keep your original surname?
CounterLongjumping47@reddit
Almost all women in Italy keep their last name after marriage and I’m not completely sure but I think it has always been like this
Lopsided_Session1504@reddit
They don’t have a “middle name” but use their maiden name as their middle name.
RotodyneDghaisa74@reddit
It's quite common for married Greek and Italian women to keep their maiden names due to strong cultural and family ties. I chatted with someone on SofiaDate who mentioned this practice helps preserve their identity and lineage. It's interesting how traditions vary across regions. Have you noticed any other cultural differences like this in the Balkans?
Golden87@reddit
I'm Italian, and in Italy it is basically unheard to change surname. At most you can add the spouse surname following yours, but even that is very rare. If you have the same surname of your husband we will immediately think you guys are brother and sister.
Equivalent-Word-7691@reddit
"anymore"
If I recall even centuries ago ,at least for nobles and royalty women are still remembered with their Original last name
BurakGns3755@reddit
Their fathers last name*
UnbalancedFox@reddit
As well as their father hold their fathers name, what is your point?
BurakGns3755@reddit
At the end of the day, almost all women uses a surname that comes from the masculine order.
atzitzi@reddit
Still, it is imperative that Greek women by law keep their surname after marriage because a surname is something significant and a part of our identity, of who we are. Keeping our surname means to keep our identity. All humans are supposed to be equal, you can't expect half of them to change their surname after every time they get married.
Still, it is imperative that Greek women by law keep their surname after marriage because a surname is something significant and a part of our identity, of who we are. Keeping our surname means to keep our identity. All humans are supposed to be equal, you cant expect half of them to change their surname after every time they get married.
Defiant-Dare1223@reddit
You could just let people choose.
atzitzi@reddit
If somebody wants to change their own surname for any reason, they can do that, I believe. Marriag3 shouldn't be associated with that.
albadil@reddit
I love the way you phrased "every time a Greek woman gets married" there, "you can't seriously expect me to keep track" 😂
atzitzi@reddit
🤭
UnbalancedFox@reddit
Just the same as almost all men
swamp_royalty@reddit
The husband has his father’s last name too.
stos313@reddit
“Anymore” is relative. We didn’t have last names. Maybe the ottomans had some sort of tracking system but I always assumed that they used the religious records for those sorts of things. So like you be “Nikos son of Panayioti and Maria from the village of Mikrohorio in the island of Mikronissos.”
Village would be neighborhood in cities, and island would be region or city in the mainland.
I know where I’m from they really became a thing during the Italian occupation, presumably as a way to identity with land the Italians surveyed so we can associate titles with specific people.
I_Stan_Kyrgyzstan@reddit
I'd like to see this map with a third option for taking both
ShitassAintOverYet@reddit
The trend for picking up your husband's last name is also decreasing in Turkey although not by too much. Many women opt for using both last names in their socials.
Himmelsfeder@reddit
In all the islamic countries the women keep their Name and the Kids take their father's name.
albadil@reddit
Except Turkey according to this map? Maybe during the dictatorship when they tried to ban Islam they forced them to change the tradition.
AyFatihiSultanTayyip@reddit
Turkey have never tried to "ban Islam". There was just an era of laicite when religious symbolism and clothing regardless of religion was banned from governmental and educational buildings.
If you want to see dictatorship, look at the current era and 80s, which are the most totalitarian periods of the Turkish Republic.
In regard of this topic, Turks didn't have surnames in Ottoman era. They were using their father's names to prevent confusion between people who had the same name, for example Ali kızı Ayşe (Ayşe, daughter of Ali) etc. Turks had surnames in republic for the first time, and there have been the tradition of taking the surname of husband from the beginning.
MeIIowFeIIow@reddit
thx for the context on naming conventions in Turkey
UltraBoY2002@reddit
Nowadays in Hungary many young women don’t want to change their surname to their husband’s, or if the do, it’s mostly in the form of “husband’s surname”-“her surname”
Touboflon@reddit
This is bulkshit i think. I havent met many women who kept their last name in Greece. Sure there are some but that is the exception
BigSimp_for_FHerbert@reddit
Im not 100% sure of this, but I don’t think women ever took their husband’s last name in Italy
It just isn’t a thing here
palavestrix@reddit
Based
atzitzi@reddit
respect!
LektikosTimoros@reddit
Only children take the father s name. Women dont.
Vaseline13@reddit
This hasn't been the case since my grandparents' time, they were probably the last generation that made the women change their last names, and they were married in the 50s. After that finding a woman that adopted her husband's last name has become almost impossible, personally I have not come across a single couple (that i can remember) under the age of 80 that does this. Children still take the dad's last name though.
Mestintrela@reddit
Dora Bakogianni
Mestintrela@reddit
If the husband has a "good surname" aka is famous, rich etc etc the bride may change it? I dunno.
But really noone pays attention to whether you have changed your surname or not.
But even women* who haven't changed their surname can be called by their husband's surname unofficially/casually. For example lets say your neighbour is named Patakis. You can call his wife "Patakaina" (patakis' woman/wife) even if she hasn't changed her surname. At least this happens in the rural areas where I have lived from, probably not in Athens.
*Unless they are career women for example a doctor in which case she will certainly be more known by her own surname.
vukgav@reddit
In Italy it's not customary, it never was (maybe centuries ago, but definitely not in modern history). Women typically keep their own surname, it is very exceptional to meet someone who even adds the husband's surname to her own, much less change it outright.
cosmicdicer@reddit
Women don't take their husband's surname quite long time now, like my mother, now 75 years old, never did. But children absolutely do take father's surname
apoliti_kserola@reddit
For the children it's the couples choice whose name the kids will take. It can be either or both. In fact, you specify it when you're applying for a marriage license (at least for a civil marriage in my case)
cosmicdicer@reddit
You are correct and I worded it terribly. I meant most give their kids the father's last name, there are some that give both bit significantly less. I didn't mean there's no option to give mother's surname too, I stated just what's happening in most cases
angelosnt@reddit
I think it’s actually illegal for a woman to take her husband’s name in Greece, AFAIK. Changing a name is difficult here
elbatalia@reddit
Not illegal but time consuming
angelosnt@reddit
Thanks for your reply. I looked it up - a person can add their spouse’s surname to their own when marrying, but they still keep their own. If they want to change their surname to their spouse’s surname only, there’s a long complicated process and they have to prove why they think it’s necessary. This process is exactly the same as anyone wanting to change their surname for any other reason.
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