Surname - nom or nom de famille should both be accepted

Question

Official French documents I have had to complete - eg long stay visa applications etc use < nom > for surname; it should be accepted on its own, not just as < nom de famille >. Knowing that when asked for < votre nom > in France, the correct response is your surname rather than first name, is one of the little differences encountered quite regularly. Although official documents do use < état civil >, both < situation familiale > and < situation de famille > are also used in general conversations and enquiries of marriage/domestic arrangements.

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Maarten,
Thank you for your comment. You are right that when filling out official forms (which is a ‘sport national’ in France ;-) ) ‘nom’ and ‘nom de famille’ can be used for ‘surname’. I have found (but it is my own experience) that recently (in the last few years), ‘nom de famille’ is mostly used in forms instead of the traditional ‘nom’.
For general knowledge, there are other options available sometimes too :
Nom de jeune fille = maiden name
Nom d’époux(se) / Nom d’usage = married name / preferred name
Nom de naissance = birth name
 
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Yes, on the same documents < nom de famille antérieure > !