Personalized Monograms
have a cleaner, more modern esthetic. The site offers proper etiquette lessons for your monograms which only fueled our fire with this whole Jackie-O /east coast obsession.
"Earlier generations of women worked for years, almost from the time a daughter was born, to prepare the linen for her wedding day; and, obviously it was impossible to know the groom’s last name. Therefore, the linens were marked with the daughter’s maiden initials.
When you are a single woman, you would use the first letter of your given, middle and family surname to create a monogram. A woman might make her surname initial oversized and use it in the middle, flanked by her given and middle names. For instance, Anne Thurston Smith, would be AST.
When a woman marries, she drops her middle name and adds her husband’s surname. So, if Anne were to marry George Perot, her initials would change to APS. A man is lucky; he keeps his same three initials throughout his life - unless, his wife and he share a monogram on certain wedding gifts. For example, as a married monogram on engraved silver, etched crystal, or embroidered linens. In this case the monogram would be APG.
Until recently, anything the bride received as a wedding gift before she was actually married was marked with her maiden initial. Now, some brides prefer to mark their flat silver, for example, with their married initial or monogram. Even linen may be so marked if you wish. Either is correct, depending on your personal preference.
Being the single, LA pessimist that we are, our bet is on our maiden name. You know that will stick around even if the guy doesn't.
Comments (4)
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This is so old-fashioned - how many women still change their name? And for how many women is the word "maiden" accurate until the day they get married?!
view kat98's profile
I'm with kat98. The monograms are cute, but changing your name when you get married is an antiquated tradition that dates from the times when wives were considered property. No thanks.
view mmadden's profile
How would a monogram work for someone with two last names, or a hyphenated name?
view annhint's profile
annhint, I would suggest using the first letter of the first surname, just as a woman might choose to be addressed by just her first surname or the first of the hyphenated names. You could always drop the middle name too if you wanted. I'm not an expert by any means, but you could always call up a shop that specializes in monograms and ask them if they have suggestions. I'm sure the professionals have an answer for what's proper.
And some of us are happy to take the last name of our respective husbands when we marry.
view lambofcairo's profile