Final answer:
Cross referencing is a strategy that may be employed to acknowledge the various ways married women may use or combine their maiden and married names, reflecting the ambilineal system or the coverture system. In history, surname use by women can signify identity and social alliances, as seen in ancient China whereas in American history, loss of maiden names represented loss of legal identity due to coverture.
Step-by-step explanation:
It may be necessary to prepare cross reference for some married women who use different forms of their married name, who combine their maiden and married names, or who prefer their maiden name. This practice can be observed in various cultural and historical contexts. For instance, in ancient China, surnames were not always permanent and people could use either their father's or mother's surname—a system we might refer to as ambilineal. Moreover, women often kept their own surname after marriage, like Empress Lü or Ban Zhao, accentuating the social alliances marriage created between families.
During the time of the American Revolution, however, the legal principle of coverture meant that married women lost their separate legal identities and adopted their husbands' names. This erasure of identity was significant, as it included the transfer of all personal property to the husband. The play Trifles uses this notion to make a symbolic statement about gender. The female characters are only known by their husbands' names, while men are given full names and occupations. For the character Minnie Wright, this loss of her maiden name, Minnie Foster, signifies a loss of identity due to a restrictive marriage.