Mr. and Mrs. + a full name (2025)

Is it correct to call a couple Mr. and Mrs. William Wood instead of Mr. and Mrs.

if the husband's full name is William Wood? Thank you for your help!

Copyright said:

It depends on where you're using it, but in the right context, yes.

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It is found in an invitation card where "Mr. and Mrs William Wood" is used to call a couple invited.

teetotaller said:

And there is any chance to find an invitation card with Mrs and Mr Pauline Smith?

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You'll be pleased to know that I wanted my wife to keep her maiden name, so I would expect our engraved invitation to read:

Mr. Copy Right and Ms. Suzie Queue
or
Ms. Suzie Queue and Mr. Copy Right (if you're sending them).

I am grateful for your answer, but is it more usual to say

a formal invitation card？

Copyright said:

Definitely on a formal invitation card.

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commitment said:

I am grateful for your answer, but is it more usual to say

in

a formal invitation card？

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I guess in is possible, but like Copyright, I'd use on. We use in many times when talking about writing (books, letters and emails, for example), but with certain forms of writing, on is more typical, and that's the case with invitations. In many cases, you won't find a lot of logic or consistency in English speakers' preposition use, I'm sorry to say.

Traverse quoting here

LaughingJack said:

Ahh, the wonderful on/in. In is like inside something. On is like on top of or maybe better stated on the surface of.

Hence, you won't write anything in a piece of paper, but you could write something on it. On the contrary, you could write something on a book (on the outside surface of it) or in a book (on a piece of paper that is in the book)

Now, if you haven't been totally confused by all that, you know you're doing well.

G'luck

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JustKate said:

I guess in is possible, but like Copyright, I'd use on. We use in many times when talking about writing (books, letters and emails, for example), but with certain forms of writing, on is more typical, and that's the case with invitations. In many cases, you won't find a lot of logic or consistency in English speakers' preposition use, I'm sorry to say.

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Do you mean that it's more typical of you to say the couple is called Mr and Mrs William Wood

an invitation card and it's more acceptable to say the couple is called Mr and Mrs William Wood

a newspaper because of your English language custom? If that's true, we Chinese shares the same.

commitment said:

Do you mean that it's more typical of you to say the couple is called Mr and Mrs William Wood

on

an invitation card and it's more acceptable to say the couple is called Mr and Mrs William Wood

in

a newspaper because of your English language custom? If that's true, we Chinese shares the same.

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I do mean that. It's not that "in an invitation card" is unacceptable, really. We just don't usually say it that way. In contrast, we would invariably say "in a newspaper." "On a newspaper" would be used only to describe something physical, e.g., "He set that dripping pan on the newspaper I was trying to read."

But to return to the topic of the thread, on a formal invitation, your choices are:
Mr. and Mrs. Hisfirstname Hislastname
Mr. Hisfirstname Hislastname and Mrs./Ms. Herfirstname Herlastname. (This one works if they have the same last name or not.)

This social tradition of subjugating women's identities to that of their husbands is undergoing change.

My wife is a professional, capable person in her own right and not a "Mrs. [me]" We don't do anything really formal, but I would insist that any invitation from the two of us bear both our names.

I wonder if anybody's preparing for the very real possibility of Hillary Clinton being elected president of the U.S. and how invitations from the White House might read.

sdgraham said:

I wonder if anybody's preparing for the very real possibility of Hillary Clinton being elected president of the U.S. and how invitations from the White House might read.

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Oh, pshaw, that's easy:
President Hillary Clinton
Mr. Bill Clinton, or (since former presidents can also be addressed as "President") President Bill Clinton.

See? Easy. It's no more complicated than having, for example, a married couple in which both are quite properly addressed as "Doctor."

I see. Thank you, JustKate, natkretep and teetotaller for your generous help very much. sdgraham' question interests me and it seems that most Amerians concern themselves with politics.

Invitations from the White House - I'm basing this on Google Images, I've never been invited anywhere by a president! - seem to always read:

The President and Mrs. Obama

So I assume that if Ms. Clinton were to be elected, they would read:

The President and Mr. Clinton.

teetotaller said:

And there is any chance to find an invitation card with Mrs and Mr Pauline Smith?

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If the wife has a doctorate then her name comes first, but it would read "Dr. and Mr. Phyllis Wood." (You rarely hear this, but my sister got her doctorate a few months before her husband and they were receiving mail addressed to "Dr. and Mr. Xxxx". Later on they got mail addressed to "The Doctors Xxxx".

But the form is rarely seen and may be archaic by now.

And there is any chance to find an invitation card with Mrs and Mr Pauline Smith?

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Never.

Invitations from the White House - I'm basing this on Google Images, I've never been invited anywhere by a president! - seem to always read: The President and Mrs. Obama

So I assume that if Ms. Clinton were to be elected, they would read: The President and Mr. Clinton

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I agree with POB.

Thanks Packard!

I've just found this:

How to Address an Invitation's Inside Envelope
to The Clintons?

Answer:
Mr. Clinton and Senator Clinton

So with Hillary president i'm assuming, me too

The President and Mr Clinton

Source
http://www.formsofaddress.info/FOA_president_US_former.html

teetotaller said:

Thanks Packard!

I've just found this:

How to Address an Invitation's Inside Envelope
to The Clintons?

Answer:
Mr. Clinton and Senator Clinton

So with Hillary president i'm assuming, me too

The President and Mr Clinton

Source
http://www.formsofaddress.info/FOA_president_US_former.html

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Or

The President and Former-President Clintons

Who knows how this will play out? It is new territory in the USA.

Packard said:

If the wife has a doctorate then her name comes first, but it would read "Dr. and Mr. Phyllis Wood."

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Actually, it wouldn't. While a wife has a right to her husband's name and social status (so the wife of the Earl of Shrewsbury is the Countess of Shrewsbury, and the wife of John Boehner is Mrs. John Boehner), it does not work in reverse -- and so the husband of Margaret, the Countess of Mar (who holds that title in her own right) is not "the Earl of Mar", but is simply Mr. John Jenkin, and the husband of US Attorney General Loretta Lynch does not get to call himself "Mr. Loretta Lynch", but is instead Mr. Steven Hargrove. Thus, if the wife is a doctor and the husband is not, and you are using her title in addressing an envelope, you would write to "Dr. Phyllis Wood and Mr. Strephon Wood" -- because there is no "Mr. Phyllis Wood".

Truffula said:

What if both spouses are women and one is a doctor? Could you then say Dr. and Mrs. Phyllis Wood?

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I would, but without a footnote this might be confusing.

Truffula said:

What if both spouses are women and one is a doctor? Could you then say Dr. and Mrs. Phyllis Wood?

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No. At least in my experience, when two women marry, while they might share a last name, they don't adopt the - let's face it - rather inexplicable practice of pretending that one of them has taken on the other's first name, too. So it would be Dr. Herfirstname1 Theirlastname and Mrs./Ms. Herfirstname2 Theirlastname.

And actually, I often use this for heterosexual married couples too. Just because a woman is willing to take on her husband's last name doesn't automatically mean she wants his first name, too.