Excuse me, Miss?
How to address people has given rise to many problems in many languages. We have had the recent controversy over the use of the familiar "tu" or the formal "vous" in French. Few of us have forgotten the circumstances which gave us the term "Ms" in English which was designed, in the context of female liberation, to obscure the marital status of the addressee.This last problem still exists in a number of languages. It is more easily dealt with when there is a totally separate prefix such as Mrs. or Miss is involved. Invent a new one (Ms.) or leave it out entirely, if possible, [Georgina Bush]. The problem is a little more complicated when the marital status of the womanis actually an integral part of the name itself. (funny this never applies to men!)
I had been long used to this in Irish where the girl's name included "Ní" if she was unmarried (Máire Ní Laoi = Máire, daughter of Laoi) or "Uí" if married (Máire Uí Laoi = Máire, chattel of the husband Laoi). I came across the same practice in Lithuania, but here the status is in the ending of the family name ("iene" for a single and "yte" for a married woman).
In Irish, some women have adopted the practice of using the male "Ó" which does not distinguish marital status, but this is hardly a solution for women's libbers! So that matter is still up in the air.
There is a purely orthographic point to be made regarding the male "Ó" (or " O' " in English). This designation denotes "of the family of" and its use in both English and Irish language versions has given rise to some confusion in the case of people who use both Irish and English language versions of their names. My name in English is "Paul O'Dwyer" and in Irish "Pól Ó Duibhir" (note: the apostrophe and no space in the English and the accented O followed by a space in the Irish). Probably arising from the limited choice of typefaces in the pre-computer, and pre-windows, days, the practice had grown for people to use the " O' " in the Irish versions of their names. This was, in effect, neither fish nor fowl. Neither Irish nor English. Attempts are now being made to tidy it up and insert the correct version depending on the language used, though this can pose serious problems for internet adressing, but that is another question.Some people, however, seem to be hedging their bets, as evidenced, in this recent example from Galway city.