Talk:Sonia McMahon

Obituary for info...

smh.com.au obituary --Merbabu (talk) 01:36, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Sonia, Lady McMahon? No

See here and then here.

The form <given name>, Lady <surname> applies to the widows of peers, who sometimes prefer to be, e.g. "Sarah, Lady Smith" rather than the traditional "Dowager Countess Smith".

This form does not apply to the widows of knights. Not at all. Sonia McMahon became Lady McMahon, and remained Lady McMahon after Billy’s death. It’s confusing in her case as she was widely known as Sonia McMahon even after he was knighted. If there were another Lady McMahon, it might be necessary for disambiguation purposes to call this one Lady (Sonia) McMahon. Otherwise, we can’t really mix and match the parts of her name to suit ourselves.

I believe the best approach is to give her her formal title, Lady McMahon, with her common name Sonia McMahon in brackets. As I did in my edit. Which I will be restoring in the absence of any serious objections. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 22:55, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

I agree, she should not be "Sonia, Lady McMahon". But the article name should stay as is, and I think the lead should be Sonia McMahon (Lady McMahon). StAnselm (talk) 00:35, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Happy with that. Thanks. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 08:57, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

When referencing the first name in print, Debretts.co.uk says brackets i.e. Lady (Sonia) McMahon. Is not employing 'firstname Lady surname' for the wives of knights a recent custom due to Dowager becoming less favoured by peer's widows? I ask because I noticed that the wife of Australia's first baronet Janet Clarke, was consistently referenced in Australian newspapers of the time (when journalists surely knew correct forms of address) as "Janet, Lady Clarke". So either there has been change or the Australian media has been getting it wrong for a long time. Engleham (talk) 13:17, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

I cannot talk about Janet Clarke. But yes, the Australian media has been getting it wrong for a long time.

• How often was Don Bradman's wife called "Lady Jessie"? Bah!
• Frank Forde and John McEwen are usually accorded "acting Prime Minister" status. Bah!
• Every time a well-known non-Brit is given an honorary knighthood, they tell us he cannot use "Sir". Quite right. But in the next breath, sometimes on the same page, they'll tell us the latest news about "Sir" Bob Geldof. Only, they don't use the inverted commas as I did, but accord him the full title, even though doing so breaks the law they've just laid down for our benefit. Bah!
• Whenever a politician quits mid-term, we're told they have "retired"; and when they announce they'll be seeing their term out but not standing at the next election, they're supposed to have "resigned". These terms are not interchangeable, and the media almost always get them exactly wrong. Bah!
• How often are we informed of some goings on at a particular member's "electoral office"? That should be "electorate office" (the AEC is the only organisation that can claim an "electoral office"). Bah!
• The Australian media. Bah! And bah again! They're the black sheep of world media. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 21:21, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Well, make sure we don't have any of this on Wikipedia. I did a bit of a search, and changed the Kent Town, South Australia article here. StAnselm (talk) 08:29, 5 April 2010 (UTC)