Why do married women take their husband’s last name?
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Because men wanted other men to know who she might belong to.
Now in Canada at least , women keep their last names.
It’s just a tradition at this point. IIRC, it was originally because those women were given to their husbands, so the husbands had changed their wives names changed to reflect that change in property
This tradition is a hold-over from an early time in history when women were considered more like property than full human beings equal to men.
A girl was the property of her father (and therefore a member of her father’s household) until she was married, and then became the property of husband (and therefore a member of her husband’s household) after she married.
Tradition for the most part. Men were seen as heads of the household and family, women existed primarily to bear and raise children and in varying cultures were sometimes/often treated somewhat like property. So changing last names to match the husband both signified a kind of ownership, was a sign of unity for the couple (of course, invariably the woman changing to unite with the man), and kept everyone in the household and family with the last name.
The family unit is, historically, an important legal and social entity. So it has been quite necessary to know to which family people belong and the surname is what many people have used to identity their family.
All children are considered to be part of the family to which they are born. When boys become men, they are then considered to start their own branch of the family, while women remain part of their father’s family until they marry, at which point they are now considered to be part of the husband’s family, and therefore take the surname that indicates that.
Everyone is different. The only reason I did was because I did not want to share the same name as my biological family, otherwise, I would’ve kept it.
I took my husband’s name because I wanted to have the same name as my kids. I think it’s a sexist tradition but I am participating in it anyway. Not everything I do is feminist approved 🤷♀️
This is a byproduct of patrilineal inheritance in Western cultures. In a patrilineal system, your pass on your position/property to your sons. Because of this, daughters join their husband’s family rather than the reverse. Since they’re joining the family, they share the name.
As we moved towards more modern times, the custom persists because it tends to match how people live.
Sharing the same last name is useful, especially when you have children. While you can eventually convince the school principal that you’re legitimately the child’s father rather than some rando off the street trying to kidnap them, it’s a lot easier when you can just show your driver’s license with the right name.
However, changing your name once you’ve established a professional identity is difficult. Since men tend to marry once they’ve done so but women often marry prior to doing so, it is more common for women to change their names. Indeed, even when women already have a professional identity, it’s very common for them to separate their social and professional identities – if you read a research paper by Dr. X, it’s quite likely that her driver’s license actually reads ‘Dr. Y’. She established a professional identity as X, but changed her legal name to Y.
In Europe, last names began to be used for tax purposes.
“Are you talking about John Carpenter or John Carter?”
“Neither, I’m talking about Mary, wife or John.”
“Mary Carpenter or Mary Carter?”
Western families are defined by the paternal line, so by tradition the family lineage is defined primarily from the male line. So the males family name usually takes precedence.
Male children were also the inheritors, being the ones to take over the family lands, businesses, and holdings.
This could be considered a hold over from a time when Women and Children were considered the property of the husband in the eyes of the law. Many Conservative Religious countries still enforce this kind of thinking.
But the Romans too were Paternal and much of Western culture is still heavily influenced by the Romans.
Particularly in the ruling classes Marriage was often more a political tool than for love. Daughters of high ranking officials, nobleman, and kings would be married off to create alliances because you are more likely to be loyal to a King when he’s family.
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