I phoned the UKBA helpline,the one where you need to register before you can book the test,they said her p/port would be acceptable along with the spose visa in it ,to show the reason for the name change.he also said if she does the life in the UK test before the 28th October then she wont have to do the English language test,hence the reason we made the appointment in October.
if the test centre don't accept the p/port/visa then i'll just have to cancel the appointment.
time will tell.