What do you think about girls taking husband's name as last name after marriage?

@daliaj (5674)
India
May 10, 2009 11:22pm CST
A girls name is her identity and she has the right to decide whether to change her name after marriage or keep the same name. I have my father's name as middle name and our family name as last name. I am very proud of that and whenever I get an appreciation of award I feel that my father is honoured and I have achieved what my father couldn't achieve. Now, I am married and I would like to take my husband's name...it is a truth that leaving my dad's name will be a big loss, but I will be happy to take my husband's name. What do you think about this issue? Did you change your name after marriage?
4 people like this
13 responses
@srganesh (6340)
• India
11 May 09
It is a well followed custom in India to add the husband's name after marriage and leaving the father's name.Even then,working staffs,have their father's name as they have to register with their birth certificates.So,it is followed whenever possible and otherwise not. And this custom is in practice as girls are known to belong to the family where they get married to.Cheers!
@daliaj (5674)
• India
12 May 09
Yes, but do you think the custom is changing now a days? My mom has changed her name once she got married, but when I see my colleages who are less than 35 years old, they keep their name. I think this custom is also changing alone with teh changes like women going to work, women wearing western clothes etc. What do you say?
@dlr297 (5409)
• United States
11 May 09
Yes i changed my name to my husbands name. But i think that it is up to each individual as to how they want to do it. I have a friend that uses both, she just put a her new husbands on to her family name. I also know a man that changed his name to his new wife's because he liked it better than his own
1 person likes this
• India
11 May 09
I would be forever proud of the man I married and have taken his name with pride. I am a bit conservative in such matters and I believe in the hindu rituals of marriage…so changing my surname was not a problem at all. And then we are our own identity…our name, our face, our voice, our work….these are our identities more than our names. You may forget a person’s name but never her face…so it does not matter what my surname is. It might create some problems for self-employed ladies like doctors, entrepreneurs, lawyers etc where they have already made a name for themselves before marriage
@daliaj (5674)
• India
11 May 09
Yes, I agree that a girl has her face, voice, and name for identity, but she is leaving her parents at home and the one she is carrying with her, that belongs to her parents is her last name. So, a girl should be given the right to decide whether to change her name or not.
@eichs1 (1934)
• Philippines
12 May 09
Our country now allows the women to use their maiden name after marriage. Some who want to use their maiden name and their husbands' can just use a hyphen between the two surnames. The women have to be consistent though on what they are using so as to avoid problems with papers and legalities.I think that this is a very good law albeit one sided because the husband can only stick with his surname.
@daliaj (5674)
• India
12 May 09
Is it a new law that gives freedom to women to use their maiden name? It is a good news. Which country do you belong to?
@eichs1 (1934)
• Philippines
12 May 09
I am from the Philippines and the I think the law has been enacted 10 years ago or less. But even with this law, almost all of the wives still prefer using their husbands' surname. Only the politicians, media and showbiz personalities and high society females are retaining their surnames for political and public identity reasons.
• Philippines
11 May 09
I don't know because in our country (Philippines) it is no big deal after all, once a woman is married, we automatically inherit the surname of our husband and replaced our surname to the list. So if we got married and we are working, we should register our new surname and declared married so that we can get benefit from our Social Security System and aside from that, banks are also aware of it when you have your account's name be changed. Some couples apply for joint account and that means i should be cleared of this too. Our father's surname is still there as a middle name, what isn't going to be used is our mother's surname. When were single, we use our mother's surname as our maiden name. And when we get married, we cannot use that anymore but instead uses our Father's surname as our new middle name and carry our husbands' family name as our own Last name.
@daliaj (5674)
• India
12 May 09
That is a good idea. Did you create new email ids with the new name? I have seen many people having email ids with their husband's name. I wonder what will they do with their old email ids....or maintain both new and old?
@cainam (493)
• Philippines
11 May 09
i am not yet amrried but i would love to take my husband's surname. it is a sign of love. besides, as the bible said, women are made for men.
@daliaj (5674)
• India
11 May 09
Yes, it is a sign of love. Did Bible say like that? I would say 'men are made of women' and 'women are made of men'.
@youless (112096)
• Guangzhou, China
12 May 09
I think it depends on the culture. Here we don't change our surnames after marriage. Actually our names remain the same as well as we were single. I am fine with it. As it seems it's so troublesome since I have a new surname. Because my bank accounts, certificates etc. will have an effect. I love China
@walijo2008 (4644)
• United States
12 May 09
I think its up to the individual if she wants to take her husband's name or not, she doesn't have to if she doesn't want to, but people tend to think its strange if she doesn't. I know when my sister got married she didn't take her husband's last name, she still uses her maiden name, she says its too much trouble changing all her important stuff like her soc.sec card, and drivers license, and her medical charts and stuff. I would of liked to keep my maiden name as well because I think its a cooler name than my husband's but I don't think he would of liked that too well..lol.
• India
11 May 09
In my opinion it is the way of giving respect to there husband. I like this I prefer this habit as well. Overall it increase love between two people.
@bamrahkirti (1821)
• India
11 May 09
I always used my surname along with my first name before marriage and it represents me as a person and it is my identity.After marriage my husband when opened joint account in the bank , dropped my surname but i did not like it.I felt as if i was incomplete without my surname and after making a healthy discussion about this with my husband ,i again started using my surname.
@daliaj (5674)
• India
11 May 09
That is great! It is always good to have healthy discussions if you ahve a differnt opinion. Yes, no girl should be forced to use her husband's name, it should be completely her choice. There are many girls who like to use her husband's name.
@happy2009 (330)
• China
11 May 09
There's no this custom in China,but someone may call a married lady Mrs "--",and "--"is the hubby's family ,but there's few called in this way .for me ,I even a little proud when someone call me Mrs Wang ,As Wang is my hubby's family name ,I love him and I like to be a part of him ,and also my name .
@daliaj (5674)
• India
11 May 09
Ok, it is a new information for me. This custom exists in many countries of the world, I thought China also had that. Thank you for the response.
@PinkyPosh (226)
• Canada
11 May 09
Hey...I never took out my father's name after my marriage. Even in my mail ids...\ Because, you have a ring to represent or glorify your hubby. Like wise... why don't you have something still left(i.e your father's name) to honour your dad?? It was they(parents) who had given this much of life for you.... It was they who built up the base for you... So try to have it... (This is what I feel...) Think and decide.
@dianmelydia (2269)
• Indonesia
11 May 09
It's a good custom on our society. I think that's the only way for other people to identifying her husband. It also shows that the wife honouring her husband on the society. If a marriage woman didn't put her husband name as her last name, it's afraid other people don't know if she has marriage a man. Have a nice day and happy mylotting.
@daliaj (5674)
• India
11 May 09
I also freel proud to take my husband's name becuase I love him so much.