Community | August 12, 2009 | 27 comments

70% of Americans Say Married Women Should Change Their Names, 50% Say They Should Be Required To

source: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/08/12/2009-08-12_70_percent_of_americans_.html#

Image
castmuffliato
Newly minted brides should do more than vow to love their hubbies for a lifetime, say the majority of Americans. Some 70 percent of the respondents in a new study feel they should also take their spouse’s surname - and 50 percent say that it should be a legal requirement for a woman to take her spouse’s last name.

The study, presented Tuesday at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting, was done by the Center for Survey Research at Indiana University, as reported by USA Today.

Some 815 people were asked multiple choice and open-ended questions about a variety of family and gender issues. On the issue of marital name change, the majority of respondents weighed in with a fairly conservative answer, says Laura Hamilton, Indiana University associate professor and lead study author.

Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/08/12/2009-08-12_70_percent_of_america...#ixzz0O0i1EQSt
  1. groups:
    Community,   Sex and Love,   LoveLife,   Women,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Women's Rights,  Polls,  Women's Issues,  Marriage Equality,  1 more
  3.     
    |

27 comments // 70% of Americans Say Married Women Should Change Their Names, 50% Say They Should Be Required To

  • kitteneater
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • +1
      DeliaTheArtist  

    • Pretty much all of the women in my family have kept their maiden names; I intend to do the same. I was willing to compromise with the hyphen, but only if my husby would hyphen my name into his too, which he doesn't seem so thrilled about.

    • 2 years ago
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  

    • My ex sister-in-law has kept all of her names, maiden, 1st marriage and 2nd marriage.

      I guess she likes using them all at once.

    • 2 years ago
  • Cassandra_Laurent
  • AndreaKnoll
  • fountaingoats
    • 0
      fountaingoats  

    • Pretty much bullshit.

      Until this practice becomes antiquated for at least a generation, [straight] women will still be limited to choosing either their father's last name or their husband's. Lots of choice there. Oh wait, even then, we'll only be able to trace back to male ancestors. Go, women's lib!

      I actually find these results pretty hard to believe, and would like to see the actual survey data, including how the sample was selected.

    • 2 years ago
  • tommytripper
    • 0
      tommytripper  

    • geez i would have hoped people had come a little bit more out of the cave by now,

      next up they will start clubbing women over then head then wanting them to be bare foot, knocked up and in the kitchen.

      if she wants to change her last name let her, if she does not, suffer... her choice leave it at that. hell maybe you want to be a man and take her last name... ugh social engineering at its finest i tell you, bunch of unruly hairless apes.

    • 2 years ago
  • good_stuff
    • 0
      good_stuff  

    • Silly premise for a law, but I can understand the frustration. On a recent vacation, my girlfriend and I booked our tickets and had to get our seats changed for almost every connection because although our tickets were bought together they were not seated together because we didn't have the same last name.

      Also, let me say that this should be an individual/couple's choice. And, take my word - for the sake of your children please do not hyphenate (sounds totally stupid when they call roll in school, and people think that your parents must hate each other).

      Lets be honest, a name is a name, and people wrote under pen-names throughout history. Just keep your pen-name for your work and go by whatever you and your spouse decide on for legal affairs. If you can't make a descision, then just pick a new name as a compromise. Lastly, don't forget to floss.

    • 2 years ago
  • castmuffliato
    • 0
      castmuffliato  
    • good_stuff:

      But people cannot practice the law or medicine under a pen name. Nor can you ask to have an advanced degree such a PhD made out to a pen name. Further, pen names were historically utilized to purposely obscure the author, asking women to do their public work under a pen name is several steps back in the fight for equality.

      Personally I have no problem with hyphenated names (I don't have one myself, before anyone asks). Extended or hyphenated names have been historically common among the upper classes both American and Britain (plus many European courts). I think the peculiar American revulsion toward the practice is class based- perhaps an extension of the equally peculiar, puritanical desire that we not come across as too wealthy/bright/blessed? Then again it could just be the mode of the moment. In 100 years time me might all be back to giving our children four and five part names.

    • 2 years ago
  • good_stuff
    • 0
      good_stuff  
    • good_stuff:

      Some of this is very true, but I must argue that unless your johnny cochran it would probably make very little difference if you changed your name. If you are populur enough in your field to have someone seeking you out, then you probably have enough friends in the field to inform the searcher of your name change.

      Example: When I'm looking for a doctor, I usually ask friends, collegues, etc. for recommendations. They usually give me a name, number, or office building. Anyone of those pieces of information would eventually get me to that doctor..

      As far as class is concerned, I don't really remember reading any William Smith-Shakespear recently, and I am certain that no president was named Abraham Lincoln-Log. Look, all I meant was that you shouldn't do it to your children. You should just pick a common name and keep it. Used the maiden name as a middle name if you love it too much to not pass it on to your kids like a normal person (me included).

    • 2 years ago
  • thea_inthecity
  • castmuffliato
    • 0
      castmuffliato  
    • thea_inthecity:

      Thanks for the link. It's rather mind blowing that so many people were so distressed by this fellow changing his name, isn't it? Imagine if everytime a woman changed her name for her husband's she too was met with floods of tears and aggression from bystanders.

    • 2 years ago
  • FallenMorgan
    • +1
      FallenMorgan  

    • This is just sickening. Required? Do fifty percent of Americans think women are subhuman? Slaves in the antebellum period were required to take their master's last name.

    • 2 years ago
  • StandaboveUnderstand
  • readyforthefloor
    • 0
      readyforthefloor  

    • This is totally ridiculous. At one point someone told me that you actually have to pay more (legal fees) to take the females last name. I don't know the validity of this statement but, someone would have a ruckus on their hands if they told me that.

    • 2 years ago
  • sgwhites
    • 0
      sgwhites  
    • readyforthefloor:

      I wouldn't be surprised if that's true. I have a friend who didn't change her name when she got married, but decided later that she did want to take her husband's last name. It would have been free for her to change when they got married, but because she waited she had to pay the regular fee to change her name (I think it's something like $300.) I imagine that a guy who wanted to change his name would have to pay the same since technically, it wouldn't be part of the official marriage process.

    • 2 years ago
  • fighttheNWO
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  

    • I don't think it should be a requirement, just a personal choice.

      Lots of women want to change their name when they get married.

      And some women still want to keep their married name even when they get divorced.

      There don't seem to be enough of a consensus in what people want to make any hard and fast rules like requirements for it.

    • 2 years ago
  • Found_Avenue
    • 0
      Found_Avenue  

    • Thankfully, zero percent of the people in my household believe in that bull.

      I have no intention of changing my name, because my name is who I am, and I do not intend to lose my self or my identity for any reason, married or single. I love my last name. It makes me think of my dad. I love my dad. And anyone who would expect or demand me to change my name wouldn't be someone I'd want to marry.

    • 2 years ago
  • Armageddon_Now
  • stevieuk
  • cattheawesome
  • baby_im_bad_NEWS
    • 0
      baby_im_bad_NEWS  

    • It should be a legal requirement?! What I would like to know is if it's the guy's who are saying that or if the girls are too...I'm so proud of my last name and my family if I ever do get married I doubt I'll change it. HOLTON PRIDE! :)

    • 2 years ago
  • castmuffliato
    • 0
      castmuffliato  

    • I completely agree datenshi! I'm an academic myself and I don't see why I should risk becoming disassociated with my current or earlier publications when I marry. Plus the idea of required name changes smacks of women-as-chattel. We're not talking about a car here, its not like change of 'ownership' needs to be made. Sickening.

    • 2 years ago
  • datenshi
    • 0
      datenshi  

    • It makes me a little sad to think anyone believes you should be *required* to give up your own name just because you got married. And if you're an author, a filmmaker, a doctor, any profession where name recognition is important -- what are those women supposed to do if we actually had a legal name-change requirement? Why should they be required to screw up their careers if they want to get married, while men don't have to do anything? It's ridiculous.

    • 2 years ago
more from Community:
from the community

top videos