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Linked NYT page links to a survey finding that 79% of women change their name. But the linked NYT page also mentions that only 5% of men change name.
The survey: How many women take their husband's last name when they marry? | Pew Research Center
My daughter is going to take her husband’s name. My daughter in law took our son’s name.
Physicians likely will keep their maiden name. At least professionally. It’s a lot of work to change names. And they spent a lot of time earning that degree. There’s also keeping their maiden name gives them some security against disgruntled or mentally unstable patients.
I don’t care one bit if anyone changes their last name. Most young people I know find the paperwork of changing names the most challenging part. I think it’s easier to decide than the actual doing part.
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Most people I know have taken their husband’s name. I do know a few cases where people have kept their maiden names, usually for professional reasons. I have a friend who owns the dealership her father started, so she has kept her name since people recognize her maiden name. I also worked with a lady who married a guy with a certain last name that people might make fun of…she kept her maiden name.
After getting married, my daughter still kept her maiden name for a few years. Then she went to a hyphenated name with both her maiden and husband’s name, and now she only uses her husband’s last name. The process from start to finish took 7-8 years.
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@simba9 did the husband ever hyphenate the two names?
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I know some women who have changed their names multiple times as they marry and divorce. Seems quite a hassle.
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My daughter plans to keep her name (all 13 letters!) and they plan to use her name for any children.
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I had a 4 syllable German name and was so happy to change it!
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No.
Interesting to see the article. D was married 5 years ago. I wouldn’t have bet either way on her choice and waited for her to share it. (I married in the late 70s and chose not to change my name.) She decided to not change her name. Her friends are close to evenly divided as to their choices; she is in her early 30s. My friends are also about 50/50 on the choice.
Curious that anticipated confusion for future kids is a stated reason in the article for changing to husband’s name and I wonder if that consideration varies regionally. It was not an issue where we raised our kids (northeast) and neither they, nor us, had anything extra to to navigate in this context. Don’t know how much our experience generalizes. Personal choice is good to have.
DD did not change her name when she married. Too complicated for licensing purposes in her profession to change names…never mind all the other things to change…drivers license, voter registration, car registration, all insurances, SS, bank accounts. Etc.
She has a lot of other things on her plate, and a name change didn’t matter to her or her husband.
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I too had a very unusual German name. If anyone else has it, we are likely related. Very easy to make fun of too. I was happy to drop it when I married H with his super easy to spell one syllable name. But I can completely understand why others might keep theirs. To each their own!
I was also 21 when I got married, so there wasn’t much tying me to my name either.
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I never considered changing my name. And one of our kids got my last name; one got his. There has never been any practical problem with it, even with international travel. My aunt warned us we would not feel “family unity” unless we all shared the same name. But that has not turned out to be true; if anything I would describe us as clannish to a fault. She also warned us that people would assume the children to be “illegitimate” or from a “broken home” which is a thought that actually pleases me quite a bit – who knew I was so bohemian?
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My DD wanted to change her name after their delayed honeymoon. They literally got home as the country shut down for Covid. At this point four years later, all her diplomas and licenses are in her maiden name. I don’t know what she plans to do. She’s busy and pregnant, so I kind of doubt she’ll make the time to change it.
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I know just a couple of families like that and I feel like it is so cool.
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I took my husband’s name because it’s simpler than my maiden name. Nobody ever screws it up.
D has been married almost 8 years, never changed her name.
When I moved to my current state and ended up having to go to the DMV 3 times because of a (their) mixup with my paperwork evidence of my marriage (in 1980!), I cursed having ever changed my name.
There are women I know who are on their 4th last name! I don’t have the bandwidth to do that.
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I asked D1 if she was going to keep her maiden name after she got married. She said probably not (I was a bit disappointed). A year after she was married I asked her if she had done the paperwork. She said, “ahh no, I am going to keep my maiden name.” I asked her why. She said, “if I were to change my name, I wouldn’t be able to keep my frequent flyer points. Do you know how many I have?” lOL. My granddaughter is taking her dad’s last name.
D2 is getting married soon. She has an easy last name, whereas her finance has a last name that’s hard to pronounce. She is going to keep her maiden name, and he is considering changing.
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D1 kept last name and kids same last name. D2 kept last name.
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