To clarify how to use birth/former names, married names, and degrees with couples, here are some examples. Badger Insider’s Badger Pride section, however, does not follow this convention:
- John Wilson ’56
- Mabel Smith Wilson ’57
- John Wilson ’56 and Mabel Smith Wilson ’57
- John Wilson ’56 and Mabel Smith-Wilson ’57
- John Wilson ’56 and Mabel Smith ’57
- John Smith-Wilson ’56 and Mabel Smith-Wilson ’57
- John Wilson and Mabel Smith Wilson ’57
- John Wilson ’56 and Mabel Smith Wilson (or just Mabel Wilson, because she doesn’t have a grad year, and thus, we’d probably leave out the birth/former name)
- John Wilson ’56, JD’58, PhD’60 and Mabel Smith Wilson ’57, MA’59, DVM’62
The Badger Pride list in Badger Insider uses the following more condensed format which doesn’t include birth/former names. (The In Memoriam listings in Badger Insider do include birth/former names.)
- John ’56 and Mabel ’57 Wilson
- John Wilson ’56 and Mabel Smith-Wilson ’57
- John ’56 and Mabel ’57 Smith-Wilson
- John and Mabel ’57 Wilson
- John ’56 and Mabel Wilson
- John ’56, JD’58, PhD’60 and Mabel ’57, MA’59, DVM’62 Wilson
- John Wilson ’56 and Mabel Smith ’57
If a last name is hyphenated, use the first name of the hyphenated pair for alphabetical-order purposes. If there are three names (one first and two that appear to be last names), but the second two are not hyphenated, use the third name (i.e., the second last name) for alphabetical-order purposes.