Mrs. Hypothetical

Jane Eyre: It is Jane Eyre, sir.
Mr Rochester: Soon to be Jane Rochester. In four weeks, Janet; not a day more.

— Charlotte Bront�, Jane Eyre

A woman meets a man and becomes so infatuated with him that she imagines herself married to him. She practices pronouncing or signing her first name with his last name, or "Mrs" plus his surname or "Mrs" plus his full name in a rather old-fashioned way. Men fantasise like this about their secret crushes' or their girlfriends' names as well when they think of them as their new wife. Less frequently, men will try to see or hear how their name would look or sound like if they took their beloved's name for their own. Artistic types or those who like keeping a diary might write it down and often combine it with Love Doodles.

Shippers on Deck and Matchmakers might amuse themselves with these exciting and wonderful-sounding names as well. For them, it's a favourite pastime activity, and it's often a good way to persuade their objects about benefits of the potential match.

Sometimes the name and the Blue Blood title might be the main thing that is coveted in the prospective marriage, and of course the house, money and upper-class lifestyle that go with it. The man can be just a means of obtaining the cool sounding name.

Compare/contrast The Maiden Name Debate.

Examples

open/close all folders

Anime and Manga

Happens in Ranma � during the Soun/Hinako arc with Hinako writing her name as Hinako Tendo on the school chalkboard.
In Witch Craft Works, the heroine Ayaka spends a whole night writing "Takamiya Ayaka" while watching over her love interest Takamiya Honoka. In an example that does not avert The Maiden Name Debate, she also wrote a single "Kagari Honoka" in there.

Comic Books

Flare's younger sister, Sparkplug, ponders this after assuming her civilian identity of florist Olga Gottmann:
Olga: Olga Hunter? Olga Gottmann Hunter? Mrs. Donald Gottmann-Hunter. I wonder how many children he will want.

Fan Works

As The Legend of Korra takes place in a setting where last names are not universal, and the series ends with an Official Couple with one girl — Asami Sato — who has a last name and one — Korra — who doesn't, fan fics were quick to adopt the practice of having Korra take the name "Korra Sato," whether depicting the two as married or not.
In Dangan Roleplay round 3, Towa Monaka, who's been in hiding for years by this point, has been watching the previous rounds with her new dimension-warping Puella Magi powers. After seeing how a certain Sinister Minister out-despaired Monobear in the last game, she develops a Precocious Crush on him from afar and fills notebooks with "Mrs. Kotomine."
In Harry's Years Ginny writes "Lady Potter" on everything she can get her hands on, despite the fact her only interaction with Harry is staring at him and following him around.
The Discworld of A.A. Pessimal has adolescent schoolgirl Mariella Smith-Rhodes daydreaming about her crush and wondering what it would be like to be Mrs Mericet. ^note
In Pretend one of the pages in Hermione's notebook is covered with heart-circled variations on "Mrs. Hermione J. Potter."
In this fanart for Call the Midwife, Dr Turner doodles various stuff, like Shelagh + Patrick 4ever, S.T. (initials of her married name) in a heart, Mrs Patrick Turner or Shelagh Turner.
Love, Hate, Hope, Pain:
Cho: Well, if it isn't loony Luna Lovegood. Hiding? You know we'll always find you.
Ginny: Look at that. She's been playing the 'name game' on her parchment. 'Mrs. Luna Potter', 'Mr. and Mrs. Harry Potter', 'Harry and Luna Potter', 'Lord and Lady Potter'.
In Chapter 3 of Harry Potter and the Champion's Champion:
Hermione: You do realize that [Ginny]'s had a crush on you forever? And when she saw us earlier, she looked like she was ready to kill me.
Harry: I thought she was over all of that.
Hermione: Not likely. I've even seen her writing 'Ginevra Molly Potter' on scraps of parchment like she is practicing for the future. One day, I walked in on her and I could swear she was practicing her wedding vows to you.
In Dumbledore's Army Harry writes variations on Ginny's name in his notebook.
Cronus:
McGonagall: If Ginny had paid attention to the theory of magic lesson in my class and Professor Flitwick's class, she would have understood that intent is everything. Unfortunately for her, she spent these times writing her name as either Mrs Ginny Potter, Mrs Ginevra Potter-Weasley, Lady Potter, Lady Potter-Weasley. Each name surrounded with lots of little hearts.
In Hell hath no fury like Ginny Scorned Ginny spends an entire History of Magic class writing "Mrs. Ginevra Potter" over and over.
In Tom Riddle and the Fate Worse Than Death Ginny devotes most of her time writing in Tom's diary to discussing her nonexistent relationship with Harry ad nauseam.
Mrs. Ginny Potter. Mrs. Ginevra Molly Potter. Mrs. Weasley-Potter. Mrs. G. M. Potter. 3 Mr. Harry and Mrs. Ginevra Potter. Mrs. Ginny Potter-Weasley. Which do you think is better, Tom? Weasley-Potter, Potter-Weasley, or Potter?

Film — Animation

Seen in Fiona's childhood diary in Shrek 2: "Mrs. Fiona Charming" (as in, the wife of Prince Charming). (Though Charming is shown to be his first, or even only, name, so it's unlikely she'd actually be called that even if she did marry Prince Charming.)
Played with in Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers: a lovestruck Minnie writes "Mickey and Minnie Mouse" in her notebook, and then notices that they already have the same last name.

Film — Live-Action

In Mean Girls, when Regina wants to convince Aaron that Cady is a psycho, she lies that Cady writes "Mrs. Aaron Samuels" all over her notebooks.
In Big, Susan complains about her recently engaged secretary doing this all day long:
Susan: I'm not getting any of my mail, nothing has been filed. Ever since she got engaged, my life has been a disaster. She spent the last three months writing down her married name. "Mrs. Judy Hicks", "Mrs. Donald Hicks"; "Mrs. Judy Mitchellson Hicks", sometimes with a hyphen, sometimes without a hyphen. Sometimes, she spells the hyphen.

Literature

Jane Austen:
- Pride and Prejudice: Lydia Bennet sends a letter to her friend when she elopes with Wickham rejoicing over how the next time she writes, she will sign her name "Lydia Wickham".
- Emma:
  - When Mrs Weston imagines Mr Knightley loves Jane Fairfax, she talks about it with Emma. Emma immediately dislikes this potential Mrs Knightley.
    She could not at all endure the idea of Jane Fairfax at Donwell Abbey. A Mrs Knightley for them all to give way to! � No � Mr Knightley must never marry.
  - A hypothetical Mrs Knightley appears in conversation between single Mr Kinghtley and Mrs Elton who fancies herself 'Lady Patroness' of the neighbourhood. He uses it merely as a reminder that no woman can behave like a mistress of his house, except his wife. However, the ending of the book reveals he already had a certain lady in mind.
    Mrs Elton: It is my party. Leave it all to me. I will invite your guests.
    Mr Knightley: No, there is but one married woman in the world whom I can ever allow to invite what guests she pleases to Donwell, and that one is�
    Mrs Elton: [rather mortified] Mrs Weston, I suppose.
    Mr Knightley: No � Mrs Knightley; � and till she is in being, I will manage such matters myself.
- Persuasion:
  - Captain Wentworth befriends the Musgroves of Uppercross and both of the eldest sisters Henrietta and Louisa like him a lot. Mary and Charles Musgrove agree that he would be a great match for either but keep arguing over which one he prefers. It's even hinted that Captain Wentworth could become a baronet. Mary thinks 'Lady Wentworth' sounds very well.
    Mary: That would be a noble thing, indeed, for Henrietta! She would take place of me then, and Henrietta would not dislike that. Sir Frederick and Lady Wentworth! It would be but a new creation, however, and I never think much of your new creations.
  - Anne Elliot is courted by William Elliot, her distant cousin who is her father's heir. Mr Elliot knows she loves her home and tries to use its charm to woo Anne, saying he hopes her name might never change. Anne's godmother and friend Lady Russell also brings it up and says she would love to see Anne as the future mistress of Kellynch, the future Lady Elliot.
    For a few moments her imagination and her heart were bewitched. The idea of becoming what her mother had been; of having the precious name of "Lady Elliot" first revived in herself; of being restored to Kellynch, calling it her home again, her home for ever, was a charm which she could not immediately resist.
  - Mrs Smith tells her friend Anne about hot gossip from Bath: that her sister's companion, widowed Mrs Clay, means to marry their widowed father Sir Walter and that she means to be the next Lady Elliot.
The narrator of Wuthering Heights first becomes interested in the story of Heathcliff and Catherine when he finds evidence of this trope in Catherine's old room. He reads her old diary which she kept in some empty pages of a book. Her maiden name was Catherine Earnshaw and she wrote Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff and Catherine Linton all over some pages. Turns out she was torn between Heathcliff and Edgar Linton.
Jane Eyre:
- When Mr Rochester's Operation: Jealousy is still on and Jane believes he's about to marry Blanche Ingram, he talks about Mrs Rochester and his new carriage as a present for her. (Of course, he already means Jane at this point.)
- When Jane and Mr Rochester are engaged, he talks about her new name a lot. To Jane, it sounds strange and unfitting, which foreshadows their separation.
  Mr Rochester: You blushed and now you are white, Jane: what is that for?
  Jane: Because you gave me a new name � Jane Rochester; and it seems so strange.
  Mr Rochester: Yes, Mrs Rochester. Young Mrs Rochester � Fairfax Rochester's girl-bride.
In A Civil Campaign, after Ekaterin proposes to Miles during the middle of a council session, he begins writing her name in excess on loose sheets of paper, Lady Ekaterin Nile Vorvayne Vorsoisson Vorkosigan (the three Vors are her maiden name, her recently deceased husband's name, and Miles' own name along with him granting her the title of Lady). This is in contrast to the mercenary hand-weapon doodles he was making before.
In Stephen King's IT, Ben Hanscom thinks of Beverly Marsh like this at one point early in the story.
Little Women: Jo realizes she is in danger of, as she sees it, losing her elder sister Meg when she finds out Meg has been scribbling "Mrs. John Brooke".
In Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline, Elizabeth Roffe imagined becoming "Mrs. Rhys Williams". It became true.
In Everyone Else's Parents Said Yes by Paula Danziger, 13-year-old Amanda is asked on her first date by a boy named Danny Cohen. Her brother Matthew finds a piece of paper covered with names like Amanda Martin-Cohen and Mrs. Danny Cohen. He plans to use it to blackmail her, but his parents find out, so he doesn't get to do this.
In Vanity Fair, the narrator mocks the obsession of women who want to be My Lady Crawley and marry Sir Pitt. The house itself and his position in society are really enviable and he mentions how wonderfully are women risen to nobility respected by their old acquaintances, but Sir Pitt himself is a rather disgusting and crude man. But a nobleman nonetheless. Becky Sharp is one of them; though she happens to marry his younger son instead. At the end of the book, Becky calls herself Lady Crawley, though she never was — she is supposed to be Mrs Crawley.
Sir Huddleston Fuddleston had three daughters who all hoped to be Lady Crawley.
A Song of Ice and Fire: In A Storm of Swords, Lame Lothar Frey mentions that his sister has been taking part in this after hearing of her engagement to Edmure Tully.
"Queen Jeyne has a loving heart, I see," said Lame Lothar Frey to Catelyn. "Not unlike my own sisters. Why, I would wager a guess that even now Roslin is dancing around the Twins chanting, 'Lady Tully, Lady Tully, Lady Roslin Tully."
In The Princess Diaries: Mia outright states in her diary that she doesn't do this with Michael's surname because she thinks it's cringy and doesn't plan on taking his surname anyway. She then realises that with her being royalty he'd probably be expected to take her official surname of Renaldo instead and then starts writing his name that way which she does turn out to like doing.

Live-Action TV

The Big Bang Theory:
- When the guys are watching America's Next Top Model, Howard keeps pointing out which of the contestants is "the future Mrs. Wolowitz". Of course, Howard being Howard, "the future Mrs. Wolowitz" is pretty much every contestant.
- In "The Boyfriend Complexity", Penny pretends to get back together with Leonard because he's the only boyfriend her father has ever approved of. In one scene, she says to Leonard, "You know what I've been doing for the last hour?" and Leonard asks, "Dreamily doodling 'Mrs. Leonard Hofstadter' in a notebook?" Penny has tired of the whole charade by this point, so she's not amused.
On The Brady Bunch when Marcia develops a crush on her dentist, she imagines life as "Mrs. Marcia Dentist".
Anya sings a whole song about becoming Mrs. Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins-Harris in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Selfless. This is also partly a callback to the name she made up for when the Watchers' Council was investigating Buffy's True Companions, and she was afraid they would find out she used to be a demon.
Doctor Who: In "Blink", upon meeting Detective Inspector Billy Shipton and being told of the mysterious disappearing vehicles at Wester Drumlins, plucky girl detective Sally Sparrow fumbles and switches his surname for hers, identifying herself as Sally Shipton. It's played as an unmistakable sign that she's into him.
Referenced on Frasier, after Frasier and Bebe sleep together and Frasier lets her down gently, saying it was a mistake. Later, when talking about it with Niles:
Frasier: Once a woman has dipped her toe into Crane Lake, dry land is never the same again.
Niles: Yes, she's probably home in her room writing "Mrs. Bebe Crane" over and over in the margin of her algebra book.
Rachel's friend Mindy in Friends says "I want to be Mrs. Barry Farber, DDS." Barry is Rachel's former fiancé.
During the Season 4 Full House episode "Secret Admirer" (in which a letter from Rusty - son of Danny's girlfriend from the first half of that season - attempts to send a love letter to his crush, D.J.); Kimmy Gibbler comes into the possession of said letter and thinks it was from Uncle Jesse; briefly leading to Kimmy thinking of invoking the trope before thinking it would be better for Jesse to use her last name.
Played for laughs in Happy Endings with Penny after she meets the unfortunately named Doug Hitler.
How I Met Your Mother:
- In the pilot episode, Ted comes home from his first date with Robin. He excitedly and dreamily says he has found the future Mrs. Ted Mosby.
- The incredibly drunk Ted Mosby and Barney Stinson get into a fight over Robin Sherbatsky and have this eloquent and well reasoned debate. Ted even suggests taking her name for his own.
  Barney: Robin Stinson!
  Ted: Robin Mosby!
  Barney: Robin Stinson!
  Ted: Ted Sherbatsky! I'll take her name. I don't care.
iCarly:
- Sam calls Carly and Freddie 'Mr and Mrs Benson' in "iSaved Your Life".
- Carly in "iDream of Dance": "If he's a nub, then someday I want to be Mrs. Carly Nub."
- Sam in "iPie": "Why can't I marry this pie? All I want out of life is to be Mrs. Sam This Pie."
- In "iParty With Victorious", Carly imagines herself as Mrs. (Steven) Carson, writing "Carly Carson" on the computer in various fonts.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman:
- Lois briefly considers taking up the name Kent after her marriage to Clark. She takes Clark's nameplate from his desk at the office and covers the "Clark" in "Clark Kent" with her own nameplate to see how "Lois Lane Kent" would look.
- In the season 1 finale as Lois is about to marry Lex Luthor, she practices "Lois Luthor" and its variations to herself in the mirror before realizing that none of them feels right; but "Lois Kent" does. She still goes through with the ceremony, though.
In Neighbours, Tad Reeves develops a crush on Susan Kennedy and is caught writing 'Susan Reeves' over and over again in his exercise book. Oh, and Susan just happens to be his school principal.
Six Feet Under: David Fisher has a cute new boyfriend Ben Cooper and immediately sees them as a couple and family. He thinks of them as 'the Cooper-Fishers'.
David: [in front of a mirror] David Fisher and Benjamin Cooper invite you to a holiday open house. Merry Christmas from Ben and David. Happy Holidays from the Cooper-Fishers. Fish & Coop, new this fall on ABC.

Newspaper Comics

In Garfield, Jon takes the thought process to a ridiculous extreme when he ponders what Liz's name could be if they got married: "Mrs. Jon Arbuckle, Mrs. Liz Arbuckle, Mrs. Liz Wilson Arbuckle, Dr. Mrs. Liz Wilson Arbuckle," etc.
Peanuts:
- In one strip, Violet tries to imagine being married to Charlie Brown and says, "Mrs. Violet Brown..., Nope, I just can't see it."
- In one strip, Sally imagines herself as "Mrs. Sally 95472" but can't see it happening.
Beetle Bailey: One of General Halftrack's officers is mildly disturbed to find a notepad with "General Amos Buxley" on it.

Sports

While serving as a commentator on WWE Smackdown, John "Bradshaw" Layfield would refer to Michelle McCool as the "next ex-Mrs. Layfield".
When the German national soccer team went through a series of coaches in a rather short time period, the host of a comedy show joked about the decision on who would be the next coach. "What's his name? Our future ex-national coach? Ah, yes, Christoph Daum." Hilarious in Hindsight, as Daum never got the job due a badly mishandled cocaine scandal.

Theatre

In One Touch of Venus, when Venus first hears Rodney Hatch say his full name, she repeats it to herself, then adds "Venus Hatch" to test how much she likes the sound.
Bye Bye Birdie has a song in which Rosie sings about how she could have been "Mrs. Peterson ... Mrs. Albert Peterson ... Mrs. Phi Beta Kappa Peterson, the English teacher's wife." She actually is engaged (sort of) to Albert and is (mostly) bemoaning that he's Conrad Birdie's agent/songwriter rather than a professor of English, but the reason he's not an English teacher is largely the same reason they're not married yet: he refuses to stand up to his controlling shrew of a mother.
Milk and Honey:
- Clara, leading a group of Jewish-American widows on a husband-hunting tour of Israel, sings:
  Mrs. Segal, Cincinnati,
  Finds it oh, such a comfort to believe
  Tho' she came here Mrs. Segal, Cincinnati,
  She may come home Mrs. Levy, Telaviv.
  Mrs. Perlman, Jersey City,
  Has been thinking how lovely it would be
  To send home a postal card to Jersey City
  And to sign it Mrs. Cohen, Galilee.
- Ultimately, only Clara finds a prospective husband, and she tells the others her future married name in a reprise:
  Mrs. Horowitz, from Jerusalem
  And you'll hold out your hand and say "How nice."
  Not remeb'ring Mrs. Hor'witz from Jerus'lem
  Was the former, God should help me, Mrs. Weiss!

Video Games

Runefall 2:
Princess Roslyn: Did you happen to catch Vaughn's last name? I'm wondering if I should take his name, or perhaps hyphenate.
In Persona 5, Yumeko Mogami, a Yandere Stalker with a Crush, proudly declares that after she and her crush Ikesugi get together, she'll be Yumeko Ikesugi. Mishima presumably got her name by overhearing her psychotic ramblings, thus enabling him to pass it along to the Phantom Thieves so they could change her heart.

Western Animation

The title character of Danny Phantom uses this trope a few times before he gets over his crush on Paulina, who only loves his superhero side and could care less about his human identity. In "Pirate Radio", as Phantom he suggests that she needs to "wrap [her] mind around the idea of 'Paulina Fenton'." This receives a callback in the movie "Reality Trip" when Danny's secret identity has been exposed to the world
Paulina: Paulina Fenton. Hey, I finally wrapped my mind around it!
- Later, in "Secret Weapons", it's revealed that the password to the private ghost files on his computer is likewise "Paulina Fenton".
Duck Dodgers: When the title character is attracted to the beautiful secret agent brought on board, he considers taking her name.
Duck Dodgers: Captain Duck Yoshimi. S'got a nice ring to it.
In The Adventures of Puss in Boots a group of black cats decide to trick a Puss cursed into being black into staying with them forever, which is detailed in their "mystical tome", which turns out to simply be the leader's diary. After that the diary is just filled with "Mr and Mrs Fransisco Puss in Boots" over and over.
DuckTales (1987) crosses paths with this trope when Scrooge visits a Bad Future where Magica de Spell, after taking over his business (and the city along with it) changed the name of McDuck Enterprises to "Magica McDuck Enterprises," for some unexplained reason.
Archer featured a gay version of this with Lucas Troy, Archer's best friend, trying to come up with what their names would be if they took each other's last names... while hunting Lana and Cyril.
In The Weekenders, a daydreaming Lor sounds out her name with her crush's last name a few times, before deciding she prefers his first name with her last.
On Hey Arnold!, one of these moments begins a Running Gag in the series.
Helga: Oh, how I long to match Arnold's stride, run with him as one, break the tape at the finish line of life as Mrs. Arnold—wait, what IS his last name?^note
Central Park: In the song "Perfect Relationship," Molly sings about how great things are with her boyfriend Brendan, even though she hasn't known him very long. She first sings that she doesn't know his last name, then resolves to write "Mrs. Brendan" on all her things.
King of the Hill: In one episode, Luanne considers marrying a man she's only known a few days and at first doesn't want to take his name (because she doesn't know his last name and thinks she won't like it). After being told it's "Trotter", she joyfully says she'll be Mrs. Luanne Trotter. In the end, they don't get married, though.

Examples

Previous

Index

Next

Mrs. Hypothetical

Edit Locked

Examples

Previous

Index

Next