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Getting hitched doesn’t mean taking your spouse’s name like it used to. Data from a massive voter file of 32 million married couples--in other words, 64 million people--shows Americans in their 20s are half as likely to change their last names compared to their grandparents’ generation, according to the Washington Post. Women still lead the charge, with 79% of women in opposite-sex marriages taking their spouse’s name in 2023, versus just 5% of men, according to Pew Research. But the tradition’s fading fast.
Why the shift? Back in the day, women faced legal pressure to adopt their husband’s name, with barriers like opening bank accounts or serving on juries if they didn’t. By the 1980s, feminism and equality pushed back, making name-keeping more common. Temple Law School's Professor Craig Green noted outdated norms starting to crumble, telling the Post:
“The way I would think about the mid-1980s is that law and culture traveled together. ... By that time, a larger number of women — in many states — wanted to keep their unmarried names. Feminism, sex equality and ideas about modern progress made married-name defaults from the past seem outdated.”
Younger folks today often skip the hassle of legal name changes, which involve piles of paperwork. Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to keep their names, and Mormons and Protestants change names more than others. Hyphenation, or lack thereof, like Hillary Rodham Clinton’s preferred style, peaked with Gen X women now aged in their 50s but remains rare, under 3% even at its height.
This trend could hit voting rights. The SAVE Act, requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, might trip up women whose birth certificates don’t match their married names. With more than 52% of Americans lacking passports, per YouGov, extra documents like marriage licenses could make registering tougher and place a disproportionate burden on women.
“You would have to produce another document specified by the Save Act to demonstrate citizenship that matches your current legal name,” explained ACLU’s Sophia Lin Lakin.