It is also interesting how trends relative to such traditions ebb and flow. During the latter part of the 1960s and the decade of the 1970s, there was a trend toward deviating from the tradition of the woman taking the man’s name when they became married. Among our fellow health educators there have been several who combined the family names of the two parties to the marriage. Even more common has been the trend of the woman maintaining her family name in combination with the husband’s family name. Another trend has been a woman not changing her name upon getting married.

It seems to me that the deviations from the tradition of the woman taking the family name of the man has ebbed a bit over the past couple of decades. I may be wrong; I have not checked official census data of these trends.

You may be right about Illinois, but other states offer other choices. Happy Holidays. Margo

It also might depend on what stage the woman is in. If she is a professional and has an existing reputation, perhaps it is more likely she would keep her own name in some fashion. For example, if I had married in my early 20s, I venture that I would have taken the man’s name. As I married after I had a business and was working on a graduate degree, I felt more established and did not want to give up my maiden name. However, my choice was to use both names, but not use a hyphen.

One other consideration is simply the last name itself…the sound of it, the spelling of it. If a woman or man is born into a family with a name that is difficult or funny in some way, maybe she/he would want a new option. Or maybe she/he would keep the last name because it is simpler than the spouse’s.

I had not considered the PE benefit! LOL Now, what happens when that child with the hyphenated last name marries someone else? Clark-Kittleson marries Smith-Jones. Would their child be required to hyphenate the four names? Maybe simplicity is reason enough to choose one last name.