I took H’s name when we married. His last name was already a hyphenated name so no way was I going to add my maiden name.
D1 is getting married next year and she said she is going to take her fiance’s name. D2 said when she marries someday she wants to keep her last name.
My husband’s hair and four-letter last name were two of his most endearing qualities. I couldn’t wait to chuck my Czech last name that was hard to spell and a tease-fest growing up.
Our son kept his maiden name and his new wife took it.
I liked a name I actually chose ( my husband’s) rather than one just assigned to me by birth. I was an older bride (34) and it was very easy to change my name-the paperwork is truly no big deal.
I took H’s last name, with my maiden name as my “new” middle name.
D did the same when she got married.
When S got married, he and his wife both changed to a hyphenated name (hislastname - herlastname… It sounded better that way)
I had no issues with changing my name, since my dad changed our last name to a less ethnic name when I was young - so no sentimental ties. I worked with my H, and everyone had been referring to me as Mrs. His-last-name for ages … so it just made sense.
I wasn’t sure if D would change her last name, but she did. Most of her friends did, as well. My SIL remarried & kept her first H’s last name for years due to being known that way in business. However, she just felt it was easier to change it when her S (from her second marriage) was in elementary school & kids kept calling her the wrong last name.
I think because our family name was changed, a name change is no big deal to me. But I can definitely understand not wanting to change it. To each her (or his) own.
I continued to use my given last name at work since I had a well established career under that name before we married. I did legally change my last name and used that in my personal life as I felt it would be easier to have the same last name as my kids. I changed my middle name to my dad’s last name when I did the name-change paperwork (always hated the middle name given to me at birth).
D did change her name (her H’s last name is decidedly less ethnic which I think she preferred) for work as well as personal use. She was only a few years into her career and started a new job soon after they got married so felt it just made sense. D also chose to use her last name from birth as her middle name (she also never liked her middle name LOL).
Of the 5 nieces who got married, 2 kept their maiden names. 3 took their H’s last name. I believe my nephew’s wife kept her maiden name. All 3 of those who kept their maiden names are in healthcare: podiatrist, gastroenterologist and osteopathic doctor. My niece who is an attorney took her H’s last name.
My spouse and I have different last names. That was a problem for one particular health insurance company’s IT systems in the 1990s as they hadn’t seen the need to have separate last name fields for every person on the policy 
I kept my maiden name. DS has DH’s surname.
By the time I married, I was established in my career and in a sport I continued to do, so it just made sense for me.
I have an intimidating (to many) ethnic last name. I never for a second considered changing it! My kids have my husband’s last name.
Everyone realizes that most last names are ethnic, right? Smith or Jones is not less ethnic than Blagojevich.
Ha ha, I did pause before using that descriptor. But prefer not to say which country the name comes from; it’s not one that 99% of Americans would be familiar with.
I know a couple that took aspects of each of their last names and combined them to create a new name. While I’m sure not unique, I’ve never known another couple that has done this. It wouldn’t work well for many but in this case it made sense.
I had an unusual ethnic (Italian) name and loved it - hated giving it up and “caved” to pressure when I married (1980).
When I went to the social security office for my new card I plainly said my new name is “First name, Birth surname, New Surname”. They gave me a card with my birth middle name as my middle and I made then change it. They were not happy, but I didn’t care. I was not going to give up my name entirely.
In contrast to lots of women noted here, my niece changed from her simple one syllable birth last name to her husband’s 11 letter hard to spell last name. She always thought the original last name was boring.
I love this story. So do you use your birth middle name at all?
DIL took S’s last name - her last name was just a reminder of her loser dad who has not been part of her life for many years.
I haven’t heard D who is engaged speak about what she will do. I can fully see her keeping her last name - and her fiance really supporting that.
I don’t really put much thought into family members names and why they might be different. Keeping or giving away may be, but isn’t necessarily a sign of love or relationship endurance!
Our D gets married in 10 days. Her fiance has steadfastly stated his intention to take her (our) last name. This was totally his idea and not suggested by D or us. (I would’ve expected they’d each keep their original last names.) Fiance has one of the most common last names, which I think is his main motivation to change. Interestingly though he does not want it announced at the reception because he’s afraid of upsetting his 93 year old paternal grandma, whom he hasn’t told about this. Supposedly his parents are okay with it though. And obviously the grandma will find out eventually.
My only regret in taking DH’s surname, if I have one, is that my maiden initials were “CEO” and, at one company I worked for, initials were used as your corporate/system ID. It caused some confusion. I had a lot of fun with that.
I have my maiden name, both kids have the same last name as H. But it wasn’t a straightforward route to get there.
When we got married, we were still in the process of applying for a green card. Someone told us the process would be easier if I had the same last name as H. So, we put that down . I really didn’t want to but because of this had to change my original passport as well. I had started work and all my accounts etc were all in maiden name. Only my green card and my passport had my married name. So, a few years later, I went to court and legally changed it back to my maiden name. Had fun talking to the embassy guy trying to get my passport reissued in my maiden name - “Did you get divorced”? “No, I legally changed my name”. “Sorry, we can’t change the passport unless you got divorced”. Huh? Problem solved when I got my US citizenship and a US passport.
My German last name appears to be unique, I’ve googled and have been on ancestry.com, my dad, uncle and cousins are the only ones who pop up. I did 23 and me, tons of matches from the UK (my other grandparents were Irish and Scottish). I used to work for a National company with a Jewish founder, everyone would ask my why I was in the office on high holy days (my dad was Methodist). My son was asked to do a solo in the HS play when he was in middle school, the director scheduled a meeting with me to ask if it was a problem that my son was playing the part of a hitler youth. I wonder if the name was just made up when my grandparents came to the US.