daveincolchester

A bit simplistic, so it would never work nowadays.
You get married, the man keeps his surname.
The woman keeps her surname.
If children result, the males keep the mans surname and the females keep the womans surname.
Same sex marriages, no idea.

Rete

That wouldn't work for me in regards to children. I would and did give my children their father's surname.

Yes, in today's society what you propose is logical as many couples are not married when they have children or live together for a lifetime and never marry. Children who are born outside of marriage do not have the same problems that children had in the past who were labeled bastards and in fact, the term bastard should be eliminated from vocabulary altogether. No one is really a bastard because it most cases there is a mother and a known father. Don't know if you can consider sperm donations the same way as there clearly isn't a known father

My dad had no male children and for him, the name line died with him. I have the option, even today, to take back my maiden name but it would cause too much confusion. No big deal to him as he had several brothers and uncles who had male sons and the name is still out there.

carcajou

Congratulations on this. For what it's worth, I wouldn't have brought it up either. They can ask for a police check or call previous references otherwise.

Do you know for sure that you were cost the other position because of this, or is it just your speculation? If it was in the US where this happened - that could be grounds for legal action.