Is taking up your husband’s first name as your surname compulsory in marriage?
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Is taking up your husband’s first name as your surname compulsory in marriage?
Decisions surrounding changing or not changing a name are highly cultural. Expecting a woman to take a man’s last name is one cultural tradition among many. Because governments create methods of tracking people and controlling benefits and managing resources based on cultural traditions and expectations, decisions surrounding changing a name are highly political. In some cases, the politics are centered on the rights of women. In other cases, they are about religious and cultural freedom. As a feminist and advocate for human rights, I believe that every person has a right to make their own decision about what their name shall, or shall not, be.
I’d like to think it’s a matter of choice. My wife changed her name immediately, but changed it back to her maiden name because it was more convenient for her. I am not so insecure as to force her to take the family name. The irony is that she used my last name when we were abroad, and nobody there could pronounce it, and changed it back to a name more pronounceable for foreigners when we came back to our home country.