Why does the woman change her last name when married?

They concluded that taking on a partner’s name remains seen as a way to display your commitment and unity to the outside world. Even some of those who initially declined to adopt their male partner’s family name upon marriage switched their approach after giving birth.

Why does the woman take the man’s surname?

A wife was her husband’s property Then the idea of marriage as a legal and spiritual union came into play in the 15th century and, as couples became “one”, they became the man, naturally, and women began adopting their husband’s surname.

Should the wife take the husband’s name?

For some, taking their husband’s last name simply serves to solidify the commitment. It’s a gesture that leaves no room for doubt—changing their surname after marriage shows they’re all in. For others, taking their husbands’ surname is more about the status of the family unit—when there is a family unit to speak of.

Why do people change their names when they get married?

A name does not unite a family, the people within it do. Those who change their names because it’s what their husband wants need to recognize that we still live in a time where paternal name dominance is still the rival culture. Women are raised to be prepared to abandon their name, to put less value behind it, to put his first before yourself.

When did women change their surnames after marriage?

By the early 17th Century, the custom of the woman adopting her husband’s surname was sufficiently entrenched in England that the antiquarian William Camden could write: “Women with us, at their marriage, do change their surnames, and pass into their husbands names, and justly.

Why do women want to keep their last names?

So even in 1605, Camden identified a woman’s desire to retain her own name on marriage with “ambition”, “pertness” and “forwardness”. Perhaps this was because he saw the surname as an especially important component of the name.

Should you adopt your husband’s family name when you marry?

In the US, most women adopt their husband’s family name when they get married – around 70\%, according to one of the largest data analyses in recent years. For British women, the figure is almost 90\%, according to a 2016 survey, with around 85\% of those aged between 18 and 30 saying they still follow the practice.