70 Percent of Americans: Women Should Take Spouse's Name

According to NY Daily News, " 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."

WOW!

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

According to NY Daily News, "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.

“The results were surprisingly conservative,” she says. “Even though there is a general movement toward neutral language, like saying chairperson instead of chairwoman, people seemed to feel it was better for a woman to change her last name to her husband’s.”

Oh Wow!

She was surprised that many Americans believed that it should be a legal requirement

“Americans don’t want much government intervention in family life, so for 50 percent of Americans to feel this way was interesting,” she said.

Some facts about Marriage and Last Names:

Only 5 to 10 percent of women keep their last name when they get married.
Younger women are more likely or as likely to change their name as baby boom brides.

Those facts say a lot about our society and the underlining religious tone.

Some respondents say that the change was essential for religious reasons or a practical matter:

“They said the mailman would get confused and that society wouldn’t function as well if women did not change their name,” Hamilton says.
Americans who feel that women should take their husband’s last name also tend to be conservative in other areas, according to Hamilton.

“Asked if they thought of a lesbian couple as a family, those who believe that women should take their husband’s name are less likely to say yes,” she says. “If you’re more liberal about the name change issue, you tend to include a larger population in the definition of family.”

My thoughts...

What the article proved is that religious thoughts and our beliefs play a large role in the decision that we make as women. I think this is a personal choice, it shouldn't be legally required for a women to take a man's last name. I always thought it was convenient, yet this is an personal choice, which should be made between both people, no one should force the issue, it would cause a lot of complaints!

For more information about the issue of Marriage and last name, click here.

What are your thoughts? Should it be required by law for a Women to Take a Man's last name?