Europe | What’s in a name?

Turkish women should soon be allowed to keep their maiden names

But the law is still fuzzy

A Turkih wedding in a park in Istanbul
Photograph: Alamy
|ISTANBUL

AYSE CICEK is not particularly fond of her surname, which means “flower” in Turkish. But she was even less pleased at the prospect of being forced to change it. In 2022, when she got engaged, Turkish law decreed that she would have to take her fiancé’s surname on marriage, or double-barrel it with her maiden name.

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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “What’s in a name?”

From the May 18th 2024 edition

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