Very few people that don’t know me can pronounce my last name. It’s long and Lithuanian, a name that trips up professors and telemarketers alike. Despite these confusions, I plan on keeping my surname, if I marry. In the United States, retention of the maiden name has often been associated with 20th century feminism, but it is actually a practice quite traditional within the Western heritage.
According to a June New York Times study, the percentage of married women choosing to keep their maiden names has steadily risen in the past few decades. In the 1980s, only 14 percent of women chose to keep their original surnames. By the 2010s, that number had risen to 22 percent. A growing percentage of women choose to hyphenate their names with those of their spouses, as well.
Of the many reasons the majority of married women may choose to take their husbands’ surnames, the one they most often cite is tradition. In the English and American traditions, a woman takes her husband’s surname when she marries.
This, however, was not always the case. In the 1500’s women in the Scottish lowlands customarily kept their maiden names. As recently as the 1600s, women in France and French Canada also legally kept their names, as did women in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.
Clearly, what is considered “traditional” varies within the Western heritage.
I see nothing wrong with a woman taking her husband’s name — many of my friends plan on doing so and have valid reasons for wanting to. Some women prefer to have the same name as their children or dislike their maiden names. But I’d like to keep my unusual name alive.
The genealogist in me approves of surname-retention, after countless hours of trying to track down female ancestors’ original names (the French-Canadians were the easiest to find). I also have a strong aversion to extra paperwork and unnecessary trips to the Department of Motor Vehicles – required if I were to legally change my name.
If I like my name, I see no reason to shed it. After all, what I plan on doing is not that radical. I too am being traditional.
