What should married women call themselves?

[The Lawspeaker]

Whatever she would like to call herself. I would of course like it if they would take my name so my branch of the family won't go extinct when we have children but ah well.
Too bad that Dutch naming rules are sometimes so rigid.. and we can only:

1) Adopt my last name
2) Adopt her last name
3) She can combine my last name and her own maiden name.

As far as I know the concept of both keeping your last names or of a "boys name" is unknown here.

Dutch naming law (surnames)

In Dutch tradition, marriage requires the female to drop her maiden name and take on the husband's name. The current law in the Netherlands gives people more freedom: upon marriage, both partners keep their own surname, but are given the choice to use their partner's surname, or a combination of both. So if a person called Jansen marries someone called Smit, each partner has the choice to call himself or herself Jansen, Smit, Jansen-Smit or Smit-Jansen. The preferred option will be registered with the municipal registration, without giving up the right to use one's original name.
However, in practice the standard procedure is that when the woman marries she either keeps her maiden name or has a double surname, for example, Miss Jansen marries Mr Smit she either chooses to become Mrs Jansen or Mrs Smit-Jansen. It is not common to only take the partner's surname. This can cause problems for foreign national females living in the country, for instance when registering at the city hall you are required to present your birth certificate and passport as proof of identification. If you have changed your surname upon marriage then you are advised that in municipal records your surname as it appears on your birth certificate takes precedence.
Also within day-to-day life and banking a woman's maiden name is given preferential status.
Parents can choose to give their children their father's name or their mother's family name, as long as the parents are married or are living together and the father has acknowledged the child. The surname of younger siblings has to be the same as the surname of the oldest child.

[Phlegethon]

That's not rigid, it is still one too many options if you ask me.

[The Lawspeaker]

That's not rigid, it is still one too many options if you ask me.

Nah. I would prefer to adopt the Icelandic system. And leave the choice for a surname for the kids to themselves when they are mature enough to make such a lasting decision.

So if I were to get married and get a son called Jan, it would be Jan Tristansz or Jan Tristanszoon. And if my wife's name would be Nicole and we would get a daughter called Ingrid- it should be Ingrid Nicolesd or Nicolesdochter.

While both my wife and I would keep our own names (under the Icelandic system there are no real last names in the European sense).

[Arahari]

Nah. I would prefer to adopt the Icelandic system. And leave the choice for a surname for the kids to themselves when they are mature enough to make such a lasting decision.

So if I were to get married and get a son called Jan, it would be Jan Tristansz or Jan Tristanszoon. And if my wife's name would be Nicole and we would get a daughter called Ingrid- it should be Ingrid Nicolesd or Nicolesdochter.

While both my wife and I would keep our own names (under the Icelandic system there are no real last names in the European sense).

The Icelandic is the original Germanic system and one which I favour.

[Comte Arnau]

I'll try to explain it. Essentially each Spainiard - presumably born in wedlock - has a doublebarreled surname, the first part being the father's paternal surname & the second part the mother's paternal surname. For example if Jose Garcia y Marquez marries Inez Fernandez y Villegas, Inez becomes Inez Garcia y Fernandez. She carries her husband's paternal surname, followed by her father's. This is the surname of the children. Their son Juan will remain Juan Garcia y Fernandez for life. His children will have different surname, Garcia y ??????, depending on their mother's surname. The daughter of Jose & Inez will pass on Garcia as the second part of her children's name, but the first part will depend on her husband's name, ????? y Garcia.

I'm afraid that it is not accurate, at least nowadays in Spain.

In Spain, married women don't lose their surname. If Inés Fernández Villegas marries José García Márquez, she will be Sra. Fernández Villegas. The old way of adding "de García", that is, of + husband's surname, is old fashioned.

If José and Inés have a child, the child will have two surnames, the father's and the mother's. Traditionally, the father's is the first, but it can be the mother's too, as long as the order is respected if there are more children. So the child of José García and Inés Fernández will most likely be, for instance, Carlos García Fernández.

If the surname is a double one, it's usually written with a hyphen. So the daughter of David Gómez-Pérez Flores and María Tena-De Rozas Casas could be Luisa Gómez-Pérez Tena-De Rozas. Or Luisa Mercedes Gómez-Pérez Tena-De Rozas, if she's given two first names. This is obviously uncommon. The thing is, everybody has always just two surnames in the Identity Card, even if one or the two of them are compound.

The conjunction y (and) is not added nowadays for Spanish surnames in Spain, at least 'by default'. Things change in Catalonia, where Catalan surnames are usually joined by the i, as in Josep Guardiola i Sala.

As for calling an unmarried woman Señorita (Srta.), it is not done anymore. It is Señora (Sra.), just as it is Señor (Sr.) for unmarried men.

[Svarog]

My answer is a modificated number 10, I don't give a damn how they call themselves as long as they preform in the bedroom. Mine - not neighbor's.

[safinator]

They should take husbands surname

[CommonSense]

They can call themselves whatever they please, as long as they keep on being good wives.

[El_Jibaro]

In my culture we don't change surname upon marriage, and so my partner kept her espagueti surname. If we have a kid they will take on my paternal surname and her surname.

[Mortimer]

Wives should adpot their husbands name