General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I wish women in the U.S. automatically kept their last names when they marry [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)Keeping your birth name is automatic, here as abroad. Changing your name involves the Social Security Administration, the IRS, the banks, the credit rating bureaus, etc. But, until recently, schools really couldn't cope with the horror of a mother whose family name didn't match the child's. The presumption that a child takes the father's family name is a whole 'nother thing.
Hyphenation only works with short, Anglo-Saxon names. Two Polacks would generate 15-20 character names--far too long for a computer database.
Many women who do not want to be located rejoice in the "new life" of a name change, at least until the marriage blows up. And then, changing back is just as much work. Moving up in the alphabet is a bonus for those who start below "L"
It's not the romance, it's the record-keeping and the constant explanation....