maiden name
- noun
- /ˈmeɪdən neɪm/
- I had to provide my mother's maiden name for the security questions on the bank's website.
- retain her maiden name
- mother's maiden name
And my grandmother's maiden name is Cartagina.
- And my grandmother's maiden name is Cartagina.
- It's easier restoration of your maiden name, Jack.
- So I reapplied as a friend of the family and under my maiden name and they let me in.
- And so he got the worst of Mel Schneeberger, which was my maiden name.
- We forgot that the middle name for all of our children is my wife's maiden name.
- My son Bobby is married to a woman named whose maiden name was Amaryllis Fox.
Examples
-
I love that you kept your maiden name.
-
What's your mother's maiden name?
-
What is your maiden name?" At last, she could give him an answer.
Fiction book (1994) -
"You never told me her maiden name, did you?"
Fiction book (2001) -
By the way, you forgot your social security number and your mother's maiden name.
-
Jensen was her married name; her maiden name was Rose.
Fiction book (1994) -
Josette resumed her maiden name and took off in a hurry.
Fiction book (1992) -
Pauline was therefore charged under her mother's maiden name of Parker.
Fiction book (1994) -
And my grandmother's maiden name is Cartagina.
-
Fred was a plumber; Marion's maiden name was Shephard.
Fiction book (1997)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a woman's surname before marriage' is directly derivable from combining 'maiden' (an unmarried woman) with 'name' (a word identifying a person); the composition follows a transparent noun-noun pattern. Cross-linguistically many languages use an equivalent construction (e.g. Spanish 'apellido de soltera', French 'nom de jeune fille'), so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to understand this MWE despite 'maiden' being somewhat formal.
Etymology
Maiden name comes from maiden, meaning a young unmarried woman, and name, meaning the family name 'before marriage'. So it means the family name a woman had before she changed it when she married.