Meri Brown may no longer be Kody Brown’s wife, but she doesn’t plan on dropping his surname.
Not just yet, anyway.
After Sunday’s episode of Sister Wives, Faith Can Move Mountains, viewers wondered whether Meri might use a new moniker following her split from Kody, but now, we have an answer.
As it turns out, Meri will continue to go by Meri Brown until a new husband comes along.
The Sister Wives star recently spoke with PEOPLE and explained why she intends to keep the surname Brown.
Meri, whose maiden name is Barber, revealed that she and her ex-husband, Kody, have talked “a lot” about whether or not she would keep the name Brown.
After their discussions, Meri concluded that keeping Kody’s last name makes more sense.
“It’s like, okay, I am connected to Kody Brown by having his last name, but at the same time, that’s all anybody knows me as,” Meri confessed.
“That’s all I know myself as for the past 34 years,” the 53-year-old added.
Meri says it would be ‘weird’ to go by her maiden name
Admittedly, Meri says she would never revert to her maiden name, Barber, because it would be “weird” for her.
That’s because she was known as Meri Brown for much longer than she went by Meri Barber.
“I only had [the name Meri Barber] for 19 years. This one I’ve had for 34, so it would be weird on that level,” she explained.
Although Meri doesn’t plan on dropping Kody’s name just yet, she has an idea of when she will take the leap and change her name.
“[I’ll] probably keep it until I get married again and change it,” Meri noted.
Meri revealed a new possible name change on Sister Wives
During Sunday’s episode of Sister Wives, Meri teased that she would start going by a different name altogether.
Meri’s friends held her a housewarming party at her B&B in Parowan, Utah, after she relocated from Flagstaff, Arizona.
At the party, Meri’s BFF, Jenn Sullivan, unveiled Meri’s potential new name: Meri Caroline Davenport.
“Doesn’t it sound cool?” Meri told her friends. “I don’t know that I’m going to do it, [though],” she added.
As Meri explained, Davenport is her great-great-grandmother Sarah’s maiden name.
Meri added that she wouldn’t go back to her maiden name “ever,” confessing that she’s been asking herself, “What do I do now?”
“Do I keep Kody’s name?” she pondered. “I am undecided.”
Meri doesn’t intend to remain single
But as she revealed to her friends, Meri doesn’t plan to remain an eligible bachelorette for long—as she put it, “I don’t intend to stay single”—and it’s been a long time since she has been eligible.
She married Kody Brown in 1990 when she was 19 years old and held onto hope they’d reconcile their marriage for years.
However, her dream never came to fruition, and she and Kody parted ways for good in 2023.
Since then, Meri has been granted a “release” from her church leaders and has reentered the dating pool.
Although her relationship with Amos Andrews fizzled out after several months, she’s still open to the idea of finding love again.
Meri admitted that Amos wasn’t her “long-term person,” but she’s still on the hunt for the man who will be.
Meri teases a ‘mystery man’ in her life
Meri’s latest social media upload sparked speculation that she’s found someone new again.
As Monsters and Critics reported, Meri recently teased a new “mystery man” in her life on Instagram: Brandon Stone.
While it appeared that Meri had possibly found love again, a woman claiming to be Brandon’s sister spoke out, claiming the two were not romantically involved, shutting down chatter that Brandon is Meri’s new boyfriend.
Season 19 of Sister Wives airs on Sundays at 10/9c on TLC.