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At the same time, it’s also true that formal naming conventions inside royal systems can be more complicated than what people use casually. Legal names, titles, styles, and surnames don’t always align neatly. That’s why this debate never fully dies: people are arguing from different definitions of what a “last name” even means in royal contexts—legal documentation, protocol, custom, or common usage.

What Meghan is doing appears to be a choice about identity and family cohesion, not a courtroom filing. She’s signaling what she wants to be called in daily life and public-facing conversation, especially when she’s speaking as a wife and mother rather than as a character in a royal drama. Whether the wider public and press follow her lead is another matter. Media outlets will likely keep using “Meghan Markle” because it’s the name most readers recognize instantly. Public habits change slowly, and names tied to fame change even slower.

For now, the name “Sussex” is doing what names often do in high-profile lives: it’s becoming a proxy fight. Not just over etiquette, but over loyalty, status, legitimacy, and what people think Meghan represents. And like most debates built on symbolism, it’s louder than it needs to be.

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