Time mother's names on marriage certificates.

Agreed.

Definitely!

I have signed it, but you forget that the mother's name is usually her father's name anyway. It still does not stop male domination, but could help in future family research.
Many of the marriage certificates I have from my research say father's name (deceased) which is handy for research, too.

I've signed too. It rankled with me that my DS's marriage certificate has his non-dom father's name on it, but not his resident mother's.

I agree - at present it's as if the mother isn't important. Signed.

Often mothers of adults don't have the same family name jen - some of us don't adopt our husband's name on marriage and many get divorced before kids get married and then either go back to their father's name, or remarry and get yet another one.
Also 47% of mothers are not married to the fathers when baby is born (although some of these of course wed later)
What happens when the father's name unknown I wonder?

I know that, Jess, having sons whose wives never adopted my husband's surname. One of the wives was half-Norwegian, another is Spanish and my son's partner is Danish.
When the half-Norwegian married my son, her father, Norwegian, apologised to my husband for his wilful daughter keeping her own name. I said it did not matter, as it was passing one man's name onto another.
Looking at family history, in the 1810s-20s, my family got round that by giving the mother's and grandmother's maiden names as Christian/first names. But these Christian/first names still came from a man's surname in the 1700s.

My grandfather's father's name was unknown and his surname was his mother's. He got round the gap in his marriage certificate by using the name of an uncle who had died young and could not possible be responsible for his birth - but had the same surname as him. Caused confusion later in the family tree.

My father's father died when my dad was 11 years old. His mother married again, but on condition that her second husband took her surname so any future children had the same surname at school.
The problem is that we cannot find his original surname. I've given up on that branch. Someone else can sort that one out.

Doesn't his mother's second marriage certificate have her previous married name as well as her maiden name?

Maybe she wasn't married to the first partner - someone on my family tree was always known by her "husband's" name, and the children registered as though she was married to him, but despite searching for years I have not found any record of any ceremony.

Do you know his exact date of birth? If you know that and his mother's maiden name, it is possible that someone can search and find his original birth registration.

No, his mother's surname on the second marriage was the same as her second husband's adopted name for the sake of the children.
I know her maiden name, and have a copy of her first wedding certificate with her maiden name. I know a lot about the family, just not about the second husband, who was a canal boat worker. I do not know if he changed his name by deedpoll, or just took her surname.
I have looked for it online, and nobody of that name married anybody else of that name in that particular area.
As there were 6 children all 11 and under, I do not think they would have gone anywhere else to be married.

Oh, I see now. It is the second husband's original surname that you can't find, not your Dad's father. I got lost on your other post.

Canal boat workers do/did travel around quite a distance. Have you checked other areas reachable by the canal he worked on?

Another one going through my head at the moment. GD, asked recently what my maiden name was, when I explained that upon marriage a woman, more often than not, takes the surname of her husband. She didn't think it was fair to lose your own proper name!

So, do we adopt the American idea of double barrelling maiden name and married name to be used by a married couple and future children?

What happens when those children get married? Would they have to have a quadruple-barrelled surname?

That was my next line of thinking Ana. Where does it stop? Do the next generation then choose one surname and join those?

Forgot to say, I agree with the petition and have duly signed.

My paternal grandma was unmarried - and sadly died when she was 21. My father was given both her surname and his fathers making it double barrelled. I was brought up with my grandmas surname only and since marriage have taken my husbands name. Thinking about it I could become triple barrelled! Very cool!

With parents today using their own names and their children taking either parents name depending on choice creating a family tree is going to be a nightmare for future generations.

To be honest I don't give a fig about mothers names on marriage certificates except for research purposes; there are too many other things to worry about.

It is useful to know the names if you are researching, though when I mentioned to someone (a man) that I was researching my grandmother's forebears he exclaimed "You are researching your female ancestors!" in disbelief.

Umm, yes. Each of my ancestors had two parents, strangely enough. Is that unusual?

Not a nightmare if parents' names are on the birth certificate.

Probably a good idea/helpful to researchers to give her maiden name on the birth certificate as well.

As well as any other previous surnames....yes, I can see how complicated this could get!

Signed, thanks

Elegran I had a similar encounter. My late aunt entrusted the family archive that she had compiled to me and I have added a lot of material to it. (I haven't done much sorting of it yet, however). A cousin who has spent most of his adult life in another country asked me to hand it over to him because he felt that neither I nor my daughter would really be interested in it as our family names were different. So that makes us lesser members of the family?

I don't think it has quite got through to some men that they may have their father's family name, but they received half their genes from their mother, as did every male ancestor.

It's not an American idea to double barrel names, Agus.
Scandinavians do it too. In fact all four of my grandchildren have two surnames, the idea being that they can choose whether to have their mother's or father's name when they grow up.
I think they should take the Scandinavian name as they will definitely be easier to trace in the phone book etc. The only problem with that is that my son's partner who is Danish has adopted her father's surname in this country because she always had to spell her mother's surname, which is the one she should have traditionally adopted. She still has to spell her other name, but has to say it ends in sen instead of son, which most British people would use.
I think in Denmark you take your mother's mothers name and your father's fathers which is actually your father's if that makes sense.