Does this wiki have any policy about giving married character's their husband's last names, if they were never used in the novel. For example, Ginny's, Luna's, and Hermione's articles refer to them as Ginny Potter, Luna Scamander, and Hermione Weasley. Saying that they took their husband's last names is speculation since it was never stated one way or the other, so shouldn't we just refer to them by their maiden names. Even the example with Ginny that keeps being used to defend her name (the five Potters) isn't really conclusive. Ginny was part of the Potter family, making her a Potter, whether or not Potter was her last name.Icecreamdif 18:23, April 23, 2012 (UTC)
- As I have pointed out on Talk:Luna Lovegood, we can obviously see that, like in the Muggle world, witches generally take their husband's last name upon marriage. Otherwise, Molly Weasley would still be Molly Prewett, Narcissa Malfoy would be Narcissa Black, Lily Potter would be Lily Evans, etc. The only known exception to this is Minerva McGonagall, and this was noted to be unusual (albeit in the Muggle world, we don't know how the wizarding world reacted). Hence, while it is indeed speculation to refer to Ginny Weasley as Ginny Potter after her marriage and so on, it is more speculative, given what we know about wizarding marriages, to continue to use their maiden names after their marriage. -- 1337star (Drop me a line!) 18:30, April 23, 2012 (UTC)
- And in the real world, while it is the norm to change your name when you get married, it is not always done. Hermione, at the very least, was Muggle born, so may have chosen to keep her name. Either way, as I pointed out on Luna's page, we don't know that her name was ever Scamander, but we do know that it was once Lovegood. (And don't worry, I know I said I would change the page, but now that I realize the same issue is on other pages I'll wait for some kind of consensus.) Anyway, McGonnagol proves that changing one's name is not a given. Without being told that a character changed their name, it is speculation to assume that they did so.Icecreamdif 21:02, April 23, 2012 (UTC)
Forgive me for jumping in just after joining, but you are not taking into consideration generational differences. While Minerva McGonagall keeping her maiden name would have been unusual for a woman of her generation, Muggle or not. (And according to Pottermore, caused some consternation in the Wizarding world.) For Ginny's and Hermione's contemporaries it would have been considerably more common, not to mention hyphenating. It think the more prudent course is not to presume name change at marriage. 18:27, July 11, 2012 (UTC)The Grey Auror