Did your wife take your last name after you married?

[jerojero]

Wife and I debating pros and cons of changing her last name to mine. Is it better either way, given our permanent residence may be Thailand or my home country. Opinions or experiences welcome. Thanks.

[The Fat Controller]

My wife is still using her maiden name.

Simple to change a name on the ID card, but land/house papers, bank accounts, utilities, medical registration, pension and payroll need multiple visits.

As she works for the government, it has proved much easier to register me as her legal husband and I now have an ID on the "system" and have been able to register for government healthcare as her spouse..

She came for a holiday to the UK on a family visitor visa last year, no issue with her still using her maiden name.

[sirineou]

My wife took my last name when we got married in the US and is now a US citizen and has a US passport which she had for several years, she also has a Thai passport with her maiden name, which she had to renew a couple of months ago while visiting Thailand

she never had a problem

leaves the US with her US passport , enters Thailand with Thai passport , leaves Thailand with Thai passport enters US with US passport, never had a problem.

We own a couple of pieces of property in Thailand, under her maiden name in fact she just purchased the second piece of property while there a couple of months.

typo edit

[richard_smith237]

My Wife took my Surname...

ID card, Passport, Driving Licence, Bank Acconunts, Credit Cards, health Insurance, Business Cards etc... Everything has her new (my) surname.......

It's not a big deal for me, she wanted to take my surname...

It's a personal choice for anyone as a couple, I don't see any issues either way....

[happy Joe]

My wife took my name and seems to be very proud.

As I am very proud to be with her that restores balance.

Regarding the administrative process that was no problem. The change of title to land for example took only a few minutes.

Bonus in my case, the fact of being married, having recorded the deed in my country and adopted child is a significant reduction of taxes and social levies on my pension.

[Crossy]

My good lady changed her name when we got married, back to her maiden name from her previous husbands name

[BSJ]

It never came up in conversation. My wife still uses her family name and I am fine with that.

[jerojero]

My wife took my last name when we got married in the US and is now a US citizen and has a US passport which she had for several years, she also has a Thai passport with her maiden name, which she had to renew a couple of months ago while visiting Thailand

she never had a problem

leaves the US with her US passport , enters Thailand with Thai passport , leaves Thailand with Thai passport enters US with US passport, never had a problem.

We own a couple of pieces of property in Thailand, under her maiden name in fact she just purchased the second piece of property while there a couple of months.

typo edit

Did you register your marriage in Thailand? If so, how did your wife retain her last name when marriage in US applies fully legal in Thailand?

[jerojero]

It never came up in conversation. My wife still uses her family name and I am fine with that.

Do you reside in Thailand or outside the country?

[sirineou]

My wife took my last name when we got married in the US and is now a US citizen and has a US passport which she had for several years, she also has a Thai passport with her maiden name, which she had to renew a couple of months ago while visiting Thailand

she never had a problem

leaves the US with her US passport , enters Thailand with Thai passport , leaves Thailand with Thai passport enters US with US passport, never had a problem.

We own a couple of pieces of property in Thailand, under her maiden name in fact she just purchased the second piece of property while there a couple of months.

typo edit

Did you register your marriage in Thailand? If so, how did your wife retain her last name when marriage in US applies fully legal in Thailand?

No we have not registered our marriage in Thailand yet,

I am not sure how her retaining her maiden name n her Thai passport affect as.

Most of our wealth is located in the US and as such I wanted her to not have any problems with a different name than me in case something happened to me. (life insurances, pensions, annuities real estate etc)

as far as properties in Thailand , i don't really care , they are really for her in case she ever wanted to go back if something happened to me.

I guess at some point when in Thailand we will register the marriage there ,change her ID , passport and name on the chanots . Until then we dont seem to have a problem.

[Aussieroaming]

My wife took my name when we married and took everything else when she left.

[vogie]

My wife took my last name of Oakey, her first name was carrie, she became Mrs Carrie Oakey.

[grubman]

My wife took my last name almost straight after being married, the ink had hardly dried on the marriage certificate, she has now even got it tattooed on her self as well.

[SOTIRIOS]

...by law it should be at least hyphenated....

...but of course my wife said otherwise....

...everything was premeditated....

[Toscano]

My wife continues to use her former married name , which I find attractive sounding . My wife is head teacher of an infant school managed by local government . I think it would be inappropriate for her to use my British surname in Thailand . All her documents use her Thai name , but when we went to San Francisco for my son's wedding , she was addressed as Mrs . B---- .

[kungpao]

Wife took my name in USA as stated on green card. Had hassles with airlines leaving the states and traveling to

Thailand because her name on passport does not match the tickets we purchased. Luckily she learned through her Thai girls network to bring a copy marriage license and certificate. Still a pain until she gets citizenship. Suppose ticket could have been what was on her passport,,,

[kkup]

My wife took my last name too, nothing else taken so far..

[Gary A]

My wife changed her last name to mine. She said that she would be very embarrassed if we stayed in a hotel and she used her maiden name. She didn't want anyone to think that she was a rent-a-wife. She also wanted my name on her house paper but that obviously couldn't happen. She was upset because she worried what would happen if she died and I wouldn't have anywhere to live. I told her that if she died, I wouldn't want to live in the boonies anyways. I still have my condo in Jomtien. Apparently changing her name hasn't caused her any problems other than the paperwork hassle of changing a number of different documents. She doesn't have any problems buying and selling properties.

[sunshine51]

After about an hour of discussion my missus decided that by doing the hyphenated

surname the combination has a a nice sound to it...I agree...does have a nice sound

to it. Done & dusted. Life goes on...

[Daniel Boon]

My wife took my name when we married and took everything else when she left.

Owww uch

[Daniel Boon]

After about an hour of discussion my missus decided that by doing the hyphenated

surname the combination has a a nice sound to it...I agree...does have a nice sound

to it. Done & dusted. Life goes on...

unusual surname Done-n-Dusted ... has a familiar ring to it ...

[Daniel Boon]

mine had her ID card changed immediately and passport recently

[jerojero]

My wife took my last name of Oakey, her first name was carrie, she became Mrs Carrie Oakey.

Oakey-doakey dominoakey!

[DrDave]

Similar to user sirineou - we were married in the US a number of years ago. My wife has taken my family name as her surname, and her maiden name as her middle name for all purposes in the US, and is now a US citizen.

In Thailand, she uses her maiden name (ID card, Tabien Baan, Passport, Land Titles, etc). We registered our marriage in Thailand earlier this year with no issues, and received the KorRor 22 document used by Immigration to verify the marriage for my annual extension.

As another user has stated, it's a good idea to carry a copy of the marriage license/certificate when flying in the event that the airline questions a ticket having a name that doesn't match the passport. We've never had to show this, and I suspect that my wife using her Thai family name as her US middle name on her passport helps in this regard (thankfully, she has a rather short Thai family name, so it works well as a middle name).

[scorecard]

Here's another angle.

My dear wife passed away when our only son (born in Thailand) was quite young.

Initially the advice we had, from a lawyer, was that it was illegal for her to change her surname on marriage to a foreign name.

Hence when son was born his surname was recorded same as mothers Thai surname.

Later, after my wife passed away, I discovered that the initial advice on name change was totally wrong, it is possible.

So when son was mid teens I asked him if he wanted to change his surname to mine. Instant yes.

Because of our overall circumstances we had to have an interview (son and me) with the Interior Ministry. That happened quickly and was quite pleasant, the interview all completed within 1 hour and we got an approval letter within 7 days.

Now to the amphur office to record sons' new surname on the Tabien Baan book, get a new ID card, then new passport etc. Son very proud of his new documents, same name as dad. His first name (chua), very Thai, wasn't changed.

Now the little bit more sticky part. Son got hell at school from his class mates. There were no look-krung kids at his school so he was a first to have a foreign name. But he's robust and he brushed it all aside.

Later at university his first home room teacher told him, in front of the whole class, that his family name was ugly and she told him that she wouldn't teach him until he changed his name.

There were other incidents with other students, different subject areas, where this same teacher was quite abusive and unpleasant.

He ignored her demands to change his family name, and just got on with his studies.

[shaurene]

We got married in Khon Kaen October 7yrs ago at the Ampore office. After she changed her Surname to mine and changed her passport and new ID card to have her new surname on it. Early the following yr we got married in New Zealand under my surname and we have the NZ certificate for that.

She wanted it like this. It has been good when applying for visa for NZ.

It's up to you what you would like to do.

[Daniel Boon]

My wife took my last name of Oakey, her first name was carrie, she became Mrs Carrie Oakey.

Oakey-doakey dominoakey!

I was thinking karaoke (because the Thai's like karaoke)

[Farang99]

She took my surname - but spelled in Thai!

[Aussieroaming]

No ouch needed..my current wife took my name and I love her to pieces

[CatTonic]

We married and live in Thailand. I asked my wife to keep her maiden name, because I couldn't see any advantages to taking my name; and suspected there might be some roadblocks if she took my name (for example: problems buying property; or paying two-tier prices because of a farang last name). When I applied for a marriage visa, however, the Immigration officer advised her to change her last name, and get a new ID card. Each year she nodded in agreement, and then ignored them until several years later I was old enough to qualify for a retirement visa - at which point her name was no longer a consideration. When our children were born, the hospital asked which last name to put on their birth certificates. And I have no problems getting her long-term multiple entry visas to the US. In summary, I've been happy with this arrangement.