Do You Think You’ll Change Your Name If/When You Get Married?

This week’s Modern Love essay in the New York Times set up what could have been a great love story: girl meets boy, realizes he has the same last name, checks to make sure that they aren’t related, and then lives happily ever after without ever having to change her name at the county courthouse.

Unfortunately, the girl did not end up falling in love with the guy who conveniently had her same last name, and now she is stuck facing the same conundrum as other American women: when she gets married (if she gets married), should she change her name?

It’s an interesting (and touchy!) debate, whether or not women should change their names. Many women feel similarly to the author of the essay, who says, “Slapping my husband’s name on me would effectively make me his person, while his name and identity remained intact. It’s an inequality that’s still too readily accepted by men and women.”

But others are happy to take their husband’s name — as a sign of commitment, shared legacy, and to have the same last name as their children.

Obviously, choosing whether or not to take someone’s name is a huge decision, one that most women have thought about at least in theory, no matter how far from the aisle they actually are.

How do you feel about the issue? If and when you get married, will you take your husband’s name? (Guys, do you care one way or the other?)