Women’s Marital Naming Choices in a Nationally Representative Sample

Abstract

We explore women's marital naming choices using the 2004 American Community Survey (ACS). Six percent of native-born married women have nonconventional surnames. Nonconventional surnames include hyphenated surnames, two surnames, and women who kept their own surname at marriage. Characteristics associated with nonconventional surname use include younger age, being other than White non-Hispanic, a large age difference between spouses, and higher educational attainment. Women with a master's degree have odds of using a nonconventional surname that are 2.8 times higher than those who have less than a bachelor's degree, whereas women with a professional degree have odds that are 5.0 times higher, and women with a doctorate have odds 9.8 times those with less than a bachelor's degree.

Marital Name Changing: Delving Deeper into Women’s Reasons

“…In the mid ninetieth century, the well-known abolitionist, lecturer and suffragistLucy Stone challenged the status quo by keeping her surname after marriage (Hoff, 1991;Kerr, 1992;Million, 2003). Over one hundred years later, in 1975 it became legal for a married woman to keep her birth name, however; current public records show that the majority of women take their husband's surname at marriage (Gooding & Kreider, 2010;Kopelman, Shea-Van Fossen, Paraskevas, Lawter, & Prottas, 2009). The fact that most women follow the tradition of marital name changing provides evidence of the power and pervasiveness of the gender socialization process.…”

“…There are various reasons why someone might want to legally change names and the majority of women do so at marriage by dropping their maiden name and taking their husband's surname (Emens, 2007;Gooding & Kreider, 2010;Scheuble, Johnson, & Johnson, 2012). Like other cultural traditions, marital name changing is a multifaceted issue.…”

Marital Naming Plans among Students at Four Evangelical Colleges

“…Until overturned by a Supreme Court ruling in 1975, many states had laws that required women to adopt their husband's surnames at marriage. Even without a legal requirement, the adoption of a husband's surname remains the most common naming option for brides in America [6][7][8][9][10]. More than nine out of ten U.S. women take their husband's last name at marriage [7,8].…”

“…Even without a legal requirement, the adoption of a husband's surname remains the most common naming option for brides in America [6][7][8][9][10]. More than nine out of ten U.S. women take their husband's last name at marriage [7,8]. Nearly three-fourths of American adults agree that it is generally better if a woman changes her name when married and half believe that marital name change for women should be legally required [11].…”

“…Gender, ethnicity, education, and gender role ideology consistently appear as influences on marital naming choices [7,8,10,11,14,[17][18][19][20][21][22]. Only a handful of studies on marital naming considers religion, and even fewer employ more than one or two religion variables.…”