Marital Name Changing: Delving Deeper into Women’s Reasons

Keels, Megan M.; Powers, Rebecca S.

doi:10.4236/aasoci.2013.37038

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Similar findings have been reported by other investigators (e.g., Hoffnung, 2006;Twenge, 1997). Others have reported that large majorities of unmarried college women also plan to change their names upon marriage (Keels & Powers, 2013).…”

Section: Last Names Of Adults In Same-sex and Other-sex Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 89%

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What Shall We Call Ourselves? Last Names Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Couples and Their Adopted Children

Patterson

Farr

2016

Journal of GLBT Family Studies

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Choices of last names for both adults and children are important family decisions that are often made upon marriage or upon the birth of a child. The gendered nature of such choices among heterosexual populations is well known, but they have not been widely studied among lesbian or gay populations. We studied selection of last names among 106 adoptive families-27 headed by lesbian couples, 29 headed by gay couples, and 50 headed by heterosexual couples-all of whom had adopted children at birth or in the first weeks of life. Whether in selection of last names for adults or for children, we found that heterosexual adoptive couples were more likely than lesbian and gay adoptive couples to follow patronymic conventions. Thus, heterosexual parents and their children were most likely to have identical last names. For lesbian and gay couples, in contrast, the most common scenario was for both adults to retain last names given to them at birth and hyphenate them to create last names for their children. Parents in lesbian and gay couples offered more detailed explanations of their choices than did those in heterosexual couples. Explanations offered by heterosexual parents were most likely to refer to tradition, but those given by same-sex parents were more likely to mention egalitarian or practical considerations. Overall, we found that same-sex and other-sex couples took very different approaches to the problem of naming themselves and their children.

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Section: Last Names Of Adults In Same-sex and Other-sex Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In patriarchal tradition, a woman takes her husbands' name upon marriage (Keels & Powers, 2013). Since all heterosexual couples in our sample were married, all had encountered this opportunity for women to consider changing their last names.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Shall We Call Ourselves? Last Names Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Couples and Their Adopted Children

Patterson

Farr

2016

Journal of GLBT Family Studies

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“…Rationales for women's marital surname change have been found in one U.S. survey to closely relate to social norms (Keels and Powers 2013). "(S)ociodemographic cleavages" such as left-or right-leaning politically have also been found to predict marital surname change in a U.S. study (Hamilton et al 2011, p. 149).…”

Section: Regional and Jurisdictional Variationmentioning

confidence: 95%

North American Women’s Marital Surname Change: Practices, Law, and Patrilineal Descent Reckoning

MacEacheron

2016

Evolutionary Psychological Science

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As of time of writing, women's choice to not undergo marital surname change has been legal for all purposes across the U.S.A. for 30-40 years. The options of surname retention and hyphenation should also have been salient in Canada for this amount of time. This article reviews and contextualizes women's marital surname retention/change options, practice, and history within these jurisdictions, relating it to children's receipt of a maternal and/or paternal surname. It also reviews and contextualizes each primary, quantitative finding from all peer-reviewed articles published concerning the topic. The primary goal of this article is to provide evidence that the ultimate purpose of the practice is to enhance patrilineal descent reckoning-the tracing of familial origins predominantly or solely via the male line (Murdock 1949)-in order to, in turn, enhance wives' recruitment of husbands' and in-laws' investment to themselves and to the children of their marriages.

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Ambivalent Sexism Impacts Attitudes Toward Marital Surname Change Decisions

Palmwood

2024

Sexuality & Culture

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Couples are making increasingly varied surname change decisions following marriage. However, despite this increased variability, cultural attitudes toward nontraditional surname choices remain rooted in sexism, with women who retain their maiden names often being viewed negatively as individuals and as partners within their marriages. The present study aimed to examine ambivalent sexism as a potential moderator of the link between women’s and men’s nontraditional surname choices and negative perceptions of those individuals and their marriages. To this end, participants (n = 129) viewed a series of vignettes describing heterosexual couples who made traditional vs. nontraditional choices regarding whether to change or retain their surnames following marriage, and participants’ levels of ambivalent sexism were measured. Results indicated that participants with higher levels of sexism perceived nontraditional surname choices, and the individuals who make those choices, more negatively relative to those who make traditional choices. These findings underscore the persistent role of sexism in cultural attitudes toward marital surname choices in an emerging adult population.

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Marital Name Changing: Delving Deeper into Women’s Reasons

Cited by 8 publications

References 9 publications

What Shall We Call Ourselves? Last Names Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Couples and Their Adopted Children

What Shall We Call Ourselves? Last Names Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Couples and Their Adopted Children

North American Women’s Marital Surname Change: Practices, Law, and Patrilineal Descent Reckoning

Ambivalent Sexism Impacts Attitudes Toward Marital Surname Change Decisions

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