Survey: Most American Women Still Take Husband’s Last Name

Marriage may have changed a lot over the last few decades in the U.S., but new research reveals one thing that’s staying the same. According to a new Pew Research Center survey, the majority of married women still take their husband’s last name.

The poll of more than 24-hundred U.S. adults in opposite-sex marriages finds that 79% of women married to men choose to change their last name to their husband’s after they tie the knot.

• Among those who don’t, 14% kept their maiden name after marriage and 5% hyphenated their last name with their spouse’s.
• As for men, 92% kept their last name, while 5% took their wife’s last name and less than 1% hyphenated both names.
• Younger women and women with advanced degrees are more likely to keep their last name.
• While 20% of married women between 18 and 49 have kept their last name, only 9% of women 50 and older have done the same.
• About a quarter (26%) of married women with postgraduate degrees kept their last name, compared to 13% of married women with bachelor’s degrees and 11% of married women with some college or less.
• Hispanic women are the most likely to keep their last name, with 30% of married Hispanic women in the survey saying they kept their name, compared to 10% of married white women and 9% of married Black women.

Source: Pew Research Center