" maiden "

Question

What is your maiden name ???????????

Answer 1

¿Quál es su apellido de soltera?

¿Cuál es...? - 0074b507, Dec 20, 2011

Good one qfreed!! - xicotillo, Dec 21, 2011

Answer 2

Many years ago, in English speaking Canada, when a woman married she took her husband's name. If Miss Isabelle Frederick married George Watson, she became Mrs Watson. Her birth name or family name, "Frederick" was then known as her 'maiden name'. Probably derived from thinking that in the time before marriage she was a maiden (an unmarried woman) and that was her name when she was a maiden. Many years ago, she would no longer have been considered to be a maiden after marriage.

This rule was abandoned by law in Quebec many years ago.

In English speaking Canada today, many women, upon marriage, keep their family name and do not become Mrs "Name of Husband". Others hyphenate their name upon marriage so that Isabelle Frederick marrying George Watson would then be known as Isabelle Frederick-Watson.

The short answer to your question is that a woman's 'maiden name' was her name before marriage, if marriage changed her name.

considered to be a maid, maiden is an adjective - 0074b507, Dec 20, 2011

¡Hola!, Q. In my dictionary, in this archaic and in a literary sense, both maiden and maid are nouns, and have the same meanings in this context. - Moe, Dec 20, 2011

Guess you're correct. I was thinking of the nouns used in titles: Maid Marion from Robin Hood. - 0074b507, Dec 21, 2011

Answer 3

¡Hola Luzmaria! I'm not certain what you are asking. Are you asking what this English sentence means?

If so, "maiden name" means "What was your last name before you married?"