Study: More Women are Keeping Their Maiden Names After Marriage

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According to a study conducted by The New York Times, the trend of women keeping their maiden names after marriage is currently on the rise. The concept first took off during the feminist movement in the 1970s (at a time when state laws required a woman to use her husband’s name to vote, do banking and get a passport), and seems to be making a resurgence in recent years for a number of reasons—career, education and cohabitation all play a role.

From a combination of Google Consumer Surveys and an analysis of the newspaper’s wedding announcements, here’s some of the information they found:

• Approximately 20 percent of women married in recent years have kept their maiden names, with another 10 percent or so choosing an alternative option, like hyphenating their name or using their maiden name professionally and their married one for legal purposes.
• In last year’s New York Times wedding announcements, 29.5 percent of the brides kept their name, up from 26 percent in 2000 and 16.2 percent in 1990.
• In all of the years of wedding announcements combined, women married in Jewish ceremonies were less likely to take their husband’s last name than those married in Roman Catholic ceremonies.
• Overall, women are more likely to keep their names if they are older, not religious, have children from a previous marriage or have an advanced degree and established career.

Read up on all of the interesting findings here, and for more on the name-changing process see the links below.

RELATED: Why the Most Newlyweds Change Their Names In October, and Tips for Getting It Done

RELATED: The First Year: How to Change Your Name 

RELATED: Changing Your Name: What I Wish I Would Have Known

RELATED: How to Change Your Name and Keep Your SEO Intact 

RELATED: You, Your Married Name & Your Online Identity 

RELATED: Ask the Expert: How Do We Deposit Our Wedding Checks Before I Change My Name? 

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