I'll bet most of you who didn't take your husband's name still took an engagement ring. Overcoming sexist traditions can't be taken too far, you know.

The overwhelming majority of women in the US still take their husband's names:

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/02/more-women-are-taking-husbands-names-sort-of.html

The prevalence of women keeping their names on DCUM indicates how nonrepresentative DCUM is of the average woman.

Anonymous wrote:No. I use my name professionally and was already established in my career before DH.

Me too, so I thought long and hard about it, but I decided to add his name to mine because I wanted the same last name as our kids. I kept my maiden name as my middle name, and the professional switch was seamless since I kept using my old name, just with a new one tacked on the end. Lots of professional women do this so people/clients didn't so much as blink. I worried about materials published under my maiden name, but on line searches for either name find me. For personal correspondence and kids' school stuff I sometimes drop the middle "professional" name; makes a subtle work/life balance distinction in my mind. Name changing is a logistical pain for about a year, but reflecting over the decade and a half since I did it (our anniversary today ), I'm happy with my choice. I also really like my maiden name so keeping it in the signature was important to me too.

I took his, but waited about 5-6 months to change it.

I married someone who threw an absolute hissy fit when I said I planned to keep my name. It was very upsetting. I ultimately agreed because I was having a kid and was torn anyway about having a name different from them. But I do not like the "new" name and scribble my signature. That person is not me and will never feel like me.

Anonymous wrote:I didn't take DH's name. It's an outdated tradition and I don't agree with the original intent behind it.

We gave the kids both our last names. So if my last name is Smith and DH's is Brown, DD is Anna Maria Smith Brown. No issues with that decision so far, for us or the kids. They just go by DH's last name.

So... Why didn't you give your kids your last name as the second name?

Didn't take DH's name. I thought about it purely because my last name is very long, ethnic and hard to spell and his is easier but we live in a European country where it is not legally possible to change one's last name, even upon marriage. Traditionally, women in this country don't change their names when they get married. So, since it wasn't an option, I didn't do it. Now that I've been married a while, I'm glad I didn't. I like my name and if I'd changed it it would have obliterated my ethnic roots.

DH didn't want me to take his name but his family gave me a hard time about it.

I didn't take DH's name. It's an outdated tradition and I don't agree with the original intent behind it.

We gave the kids both our last names. So if my last name is Smith and DH's is Brown, DD is Anna Maria Smith Brown. No issues with that decision so far, for us or the kids. They just go by DH's last name.

No. Many years with kids and DH (and travel, reservations, appointments, etc.) and it has literally never come up once as an issue. Do not understand how changing my name would have made anything easier. It's been many years of happy marriage for us with no name issues.

Anonymous wrote:Guy here--

I won't marry anyone who won't take my last time? Don't like it? Don't marry me.

Are you married, you Neanderthal?

Neither my husband nor I changed our names.

Didn't take his.Would've been too mush paperwork.divorced now and glad I didn't take it.

I made my maiden name my second middle name. I sometimes use both names as my last name.

I didn't change my name. My husband didn't care. He said that he wouldn't be too thrilled if someone asked him to change his name so I could do whatever I wanted as far as he was concerned.

Married at 28 and did not take dh's name. No hyphen either.