It all started with this tweet from user @_MercyFul, as she wondered why women today refuse to take their husband's last name after marriage. The thread went viral with women coming up with various reasonings, from totally comical to completely logical and justified. So please feel free to read a selection of the most interesting opinions thoroughly collected by Bored Panda especially for you.
Historically, the tradition in which a woman takes her husband's last name after marriage comes from an ancient patriarchal society, when the wife actually left her own family after the wedding, joining the husband's extended family. Today, of course, this is not the case, but the tradition still persists.
And still, there are exceptions - for example, in Greece since 1983, according to the law, a woman retains her maiden name throughout her life. Or in Spain, where every child born receives two last names - the first is the name of the father, and the second is the mother's. However, local activists are also deeply concerned that this rule de facto downplays the role of the maternal last name.
According to a 2015 study, approximately 70% of American women take their husband's last name after changing their marital status. A year later, a similar survey among British women showed almost 90%. Looks pretty strange, doesn't it? "What is it - a harmless tradition or something that has crept into our world from the past?" asks Simon Duncan, professor at the University of Bradford, in his 2019 study.
"Some men still insist on this - a kind of echo of the patriarchal tradition of the past," Professor Duncan emphasizes. "And some women do not mind, taking it for granted, they say that they dream of becoming 'Mrs. So-and-so' by changing their identity". The researcher goes further, calling what's happening now 'pretty dangerous,' whether the couple is deliberately sticking to an old tradition or just doing it 'as is customary.'
And so this collection, as we do think, will be of interest to both women and men. If you started thinking about the reasons for the emergence and development of such traditions in the contemporary world, then this list was definitely not in vain. So please feel free to scroll it to the very end and maybe add your own reasoning for keeping your own name after leaving the altar.
