Calling Cards for Women

Here are some important details concerning women’s calling cards:

• A married woman’s name appears exactly as her husband’s except for the honorific. Example: Mrs. John Montgomery Silcox or Mrs. John Silcox.
• A female doctor who uses her maiden name would use Doctor Lillian Mitchell. If she uses her husband’s name, the card should read Doctor Lillian Gates, Doctor Lillian Mitchell Gates, or Mrs. Theodore Gates. ➤ Divorced women use either Mrs. Marie Webb, Mrs. Marie Mitchell Webb, or Marie Mitchell Webb. Divorced women with children keep their former husband’s name to be consistent with their children’s.
• A divorced woman without children can resume her maiden name. In that case her card would read Marie Mitchell. No honorifics here. She is no longer a Mrs., and Miss is only for women who have never been married. Ms. is not used on a calling card: The term has not been in use long enough to be considered traditional by old-line engravers, particularly because the term itself came into existence as a designation for a woman in business.
• Widows do not change their calling cards when they continue to use their husbands’ names.
• Single women may use their full names with or without the Miss.