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June 11

Fifty Shades Freed and mails

In Fifty Shades Freed Grey and Anastasia have an argument about why she hasn't change the name of her work mail. Since in my country people does not change surnames after marriages, could you clarify to me if it is really usual for woman to change her mail surnames at work after marriage? Also, I guess to do that you must ask for it to the IT department or something...So, given that Grey is the boss of the company, couldn't he have called to the IT department himself and ordered it if he wanted that so badly?85.58.45.221 (talk) 21:41, 11 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, in countries where spouses can change their names after mariage, they will often ask for name-based listings in their professional life to be changed as well (not just e-mail, it can also affect how the name is reflected in the organizational chart on a company's website, in its telephone directory and so on). Normally, because of privacy concerns, only the person itself can make such a request, so even if Grey is the boss, he could not do that for one of his employees. Indeed, it could be considered a form of workplace harassment if he did so without her consent. Xuxl (talk) 12:23, 12 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note however that in the UK, for example, while decades ago such a name change was almost always made, this has slowly changed so that now it is also common for the woman to retain her surname in a professional context, particularly if her profession involves her making publications such as scientific papers.

There is no legal requirement in the UK to change one's surname after marriage in any context (although many people assume it is and many bureaucratic institutions will expect it). It is very rare but not completely unknown for the man to change his surname to that of his spouse, and slightly less rare for the two to adopt a new name, perhaps combining all (as a double surname or by hyphenating) or some parts (as a portmanteau) of their previous names.

See Name change for a broader treatment of the topic. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.122.0.58 (talk) 15:27, 12 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]