Twenty years ago, many U.S. women chose not to take her husband's name, but more brides may be opting to take their spouse's name again.
A Harvard study on name-changing, based on information from wedding announcements in the New York Times, found only 2 percent of brides kept their names in 1975. However, By 1998, some 33 percent had decided to keep their maiden names.
However, a survey by the wedding Web site theknot.com found about 71 percent of women took their husbands' names last year, reported the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.
Claudia Goldin, who conducted the Harvard study, said brides featured in the Times tend to be college educated and therefore more likely to retain their names.
Carley Roney, editor of theknot.com, thinks a woman keeping her own name has taken on a hint of a negative connotation lately.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
