married 1706 in Wurttemberg -- would she take her husband's family name?

Question

I’m just wondering about naming conventions for married women in her time and place. Should we put her married name in the Current Name field?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Yes, I believe so.  I have many ancestors from Württemberg in one branch of my family, although most of them aren't on WikiTree yet.  I just added a source to one, Elisabetha Mühlich Gunzenhauser, that shows that the "German Family Table" listing her death used her married name.  I believe that's representative of how it was commonly done.  (This is a little later than what you asked about, but it's all I can find at the moment.)

Comments

Thanks for the star, Shirlea!

Answer 2

In Germany a married woman had to take the husband's name until 1957. Between 1957 and 1976 she was able to add her surname to the husband's one. So if a Johannes Schmidt and a Michaela Meier married, she could be either Michaela (Meier) Schmidt or Michaela (Meier) Schmidt-Meier. Since March 1991, it is possible that both spouses keep their own surname. They can decide to take either one though. So from then on also Johannes can be a Johannes (Schmidt) Meier. This wasn't possible before.