Job Discussion Forums

[Strum]

If a Catholic Columbian woman gets married does she take on the last name of the man who she is marrying? Does the custom matter if the husband is Columbian or not? Thanks.

[naturegirl321]

She takes his first last name and adds de.
For example Juan Perez Tume marries Maria Verde Long
She becomes Maria Verde de Perez

[lozwich]

For the record, its Colombia.

And not necessarily with the surname. Lots of women here just keep their own name. It depends on the woman.

[Justin Trullinger]

Though the "de somebody" is quite traditional, it doesn't get used much as far as I can see. On extremely formal documents such as a marriage certificate, perhaps, but only the very traditional older generation seems to use it as a name. By the way, "de" with a name is the Spanish possesive, so traditionally it was a way of saying that she now is his. Any thoughts?

The two surnames that most Spanish speaking peoples use come from the mother and the father- I've heard it remarked that the fact that I have only one surname, my father's, is a sign of the deep sexism of Anglo culture. Any further thoughts?

I've been to a Colombian wedding, and found that the most important tradition is to get REALLY DRUNK!

Justin

[pollitatica]

I can't speak for Colombia, but I know that in Costa Rica, I never met a single woman who took her husband last name. In fact, my boyfriend at the time thought it was really strange and almost offensive and sexist, as Justin said, that women in the US take their husband's name.

However, it did seem that once women got married, they dropped their 2nd apellido. My host mom's name was simply "Elizabeth Soto". But don't quote me on that one.

[MELEE]