Taking your husband's name?

“Barbie” made quite a bit of the “patriarchy.”  In fact that word was mentioned in the movie many times.  (I wasn’t counting.)  While it is my experience that most weddings are planned by the fiancée, they are still very traditional affairs in which the patriarchy is alive and well. 

According to recent data from the Pew Research Center, in opposite sex marriages four out of five women changed their names to that of their spouse.  For white women, the figure was 86%.  Why would women do that, especially since once they get divorced, they are stuck with the creep’s name?

Interestingly, only 73% of black women changed their names completely.  16% used a hyphenated name.  (For white women’s only 3% hyphenated.)

Among Hispanic women, 60% took their husband’s name, while 30% kept their own names.  (In some Spanish-speaking countries it is customary for women to keep their names.)

And Asians?  The Pew sample was too small to make generalizations.

I learned the statistics in an article by Claire Cain Miller in an article in the Sept. 13 issue of the New York Times.  The snarky comments are all mine.