A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of his or her spouse, this name replaces the person's original family name, which then becomes a maiden name.

The term "maiden name" is rarely applied to the change of family names by men, or by either sex other than in connection with marriage. Nevertheless, the French and English-adopted term "née" ( /ˈneɪ/ or  /ˈniː/; French: [ˈne]), meaning "born as," can be applied to a woman's family name at birth that has been replaced for any reason. The French masculine inflection corresponding to née is "né"; while less readily recognized by non-French-speakers, it is likewise applied to family names changed for any reason. (The diacritics are sometimes omitted.)

The term "birth name" is sometimes used specifically as a gender-neutral (or male only) substitute for "maiden name", but it is also applied to mean the family name of the mother of a child adopted at birth, and is thus likely to be used with more flexibility than the loan-words née and né, accepting it even when the name being referred to was acquired by adoption (at or long after birth), or made in connection with a change of nationality, or changed in any of the variety of other, rarer circumstances.

Laouni Mouhid, commonly known by his alias La Fouine (English: The Weasel) or Fouiskin (born December 25, 1981 in Trappes, Yvelines), is a French rapper of Moroccan origins from the city of Trappes, Yvelines in the Paris western suburbs. He is an established figure in French rap. La Fouine signed with Sony Records in 2003 and released his debut album, Bourré au son, in 2005. La Fouine released his second album, Aller-Retour, on March 12, 2007. The American beatmaker Focus produced four songs on the album. His most recent album, Mes Repères, was released on February 23, 2009 and is two times gold record in France. His new album, a double CD intitled "La Fouine Vs Laouni," released on February 14 for Valentine's Day, was inspired by the two sides of himself, through his career and experience of his daily life. The first one, La Fouine, a character he created to "entertain people, La Fouine is very cunning, materialistic, bad boy and so vulgar ... it's not really me" said the artist. The second one Laouni (his real name) talks about things he lived in his youth, so his rap is sincere and moving. The week of album's release, more than 25 621 copies were sold in France, a feat for a hip hop artist. He has also his own label "Banlieue Sale Music" and his own clothing line called "Street Swagg".

Keny Arkana (born 1982 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France) is a French rap artist. She is active in the alter-globalization movement with "La Rage Du Peuple", a music collective created in 2004 in the neighborhood of Noailles in Marseilles.

Raised in Marseilles of Argentine heritage, Arkana began rapping in 1996, with her first texts at the age of 12. She formed the collectives Mars Patrie and later Etat-Major, gaining performance experience in the Marseilles underground scene, culminating in the 2003 release of Etat Major's first mixtape.

After several solo appearances on various projects, Arkana released her first EP Le missile est lancé (The rocket is launched) in 2004. Her first album Entre ciment et belle étoile (Between concrete and stars) was released in October 2006. Her first single, La rage, released in 2006, pointedly references the 2005 civil unrest in France.

Keny Arkana also launched a series of local social fora through the association Appel aux sans voix (Call to the voiceless).

Doc Gynéco (real name, Bruno Beausir) is a popular French hip hop artist of Guadeloupean origin. His music is typically characterized as a ragga/rap style, that has found its fan base in France. Born in Clichy-la-Garenne, France on July 7, 1974, Beausir's mother was Caribbean and his father white. The latter left them in 1990, and partly as a result of this, Beausir was poor in his later teen years.

Doc Gynéco launched his career at the age of 19, writing a few tracks for the hardcore rap group Ministère AMER. After this rap group parted, Virgin Records signed him with the intent of converting his demos into an album in Paris.^{[citation needed]}

This project partially fell through; Doc Gyneco then agreed to leave for Los Angeles to work with a famous American producer, Ken Kessie. The result of this work would be Première Consultation, released in April 1996, which received large media praise and huge success both in France and the world. Singles from the album include "Est-ce que ça le fait?", "Viens voir le docteur", "Dans Ma Rue", "Passements de Jambes", and "Né Ici".