Even today his legal surname is often erroneously cited as "Vetter-Marciniak".

In Spain, a woman does not change her legal surnames when she marries.

She adopted Goya as her professional name and later as her legal surname.

His legal surname remained "Shiell" though he adopted the shorter version as a de facto pen name.

Nowadays, a woman's legal surname does not change upon marriage, though she can use the husband's surname socially.

In strict English law, if there is such a thing as a "legal" surname, it is easily changed.

She took his surname as her professional and legal surname.

This distinction is important, because many official documents use the person's maiden or legal or true surname, rather than their usage name.

Until emancipation, enslaved people did not have legal surnames.

Morris has remained Stevie Wonder's legal surname ever since.