Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

SURVEY: WOMEN DON'T NEED TO TAKE THEIR HUSBANDS' LAST NAME
YOUGOV ^ | 10/21/2014 | by Peter Moore

Posted on 10/21/2014 5:01:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Most people believe that it is up to the woman getting married whether she takes her husband's last name or not - but that kids should generally get their father's name

The wedding of Amal Alamuddin to George Clooney in Venice has been one of the most talked about events of 2014. Amal, who is a prominent human rights lawyer in the UK, caused a certain amount of controversy due to her decision to take Clooney's last name as her own. Furthermore, unlike many women with professional careers, she will also professionally be known as 'Amal Clooney' instead of 'Amal Alamuddin'. 

Research conducted by YouGov shows that most Americans don't think that women should feel they need to take their husband's last name. Overall, most Americans (57%) think that a woman should take whichever name she wants after she gets married, while 31% think that she should take her husband's last name. 6% think that hyphenation is the way to go, while 3% think women ought to keep their own names. Opinions on whether or not a woman should take her husband's last name are fairly consistent regardless of demographic grouping. 

There is variation along party lines. Only 18% of Democrats say that women should take their husband's last names, while 65% think that she should do whatever she wants and 15% support either hyphenation or her keeping the original name. Among Republican voters, however, support for saying that women should take their husband's last names is far higher. 47% of Republicans think that a newly married woman should change her name to her husband's, the exact same percentage who say that a woman should take whichever name she wants (47%). 

(Excerpt) Read more at today.yougov.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amalalamuddin; amalclooney; clooney; feminism; heterosexuality; lastname; marriage; names; women; yougov
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-78 last
To: SeekAndFind

Ok....I went BACK to my maiden name when I married my husband. We knew we weren’t having children (have a son from 1st marriage). At the time I had a mother who had changed her name 4 times with 4 husbands..I think I felt it was just a stable thing for me at the time...and my husband who has an easy but rare last name will be happy when it goes with him...his parents don’t deserve the name continuation....so...there’s lots of reasons for name issues.


61 posted on 10/21/2014 7:52:05 PM PDT by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: al baby

“Yeah lets see her run as Hillary Rodham !!!!”

That may be her legal name, as libby as she was back when she married slick.


62 posted on 10/21/2014 7:52:58 PM PDT by wrench
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: goodnesswins

PS...but I answer to both names...I don’t throw a fit if someone is incorrect...as long as they get my first name right.


63 posted on 10/21/2014 7:54:16 PM PDT by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“Did that do anything for their finances? :)”

I think just their psychology...

PS- if I were a Bastardi, I’d change. Life is too short. Many immigrants changed their names when they came to the USA. Maybe I’d just shorten it to Bastard.


64 posted on 10/21/2014 7:58:47 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion ( "I didn't leave the Central Oligarchy Party. It left me." - Ronaldus Maximus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
I think the whole concept of names is rather silly in this modern age. The use of surnames is even more outdated. During medieval times, your surname would usually that of your profession. Hence the surnames "Baker", "Smith", "Cook", "Cooper", "Carpenter", etc. Then you had the unimaginative surnames in which you just tacked "son" to your regular name. Hence "Jackson", "Johnson", "Robinson", etc.

In our high tech age, it's high time that we simply assigned a unique alphanumeric "address" to each person. For example, my name could become AU100Z4E374X2. Imagine how much easier it would be to pull a specific individual up in a Google Search?

65 posted on 10/21/2014 8:02:42 PM PDT by SamAdams76
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: taxcontrol

I’m a very long-time lurker (going back to the Clinton impeachment days); but I’ve never signed up or posted until tonight. I guess this thread was the catalyst.

One thing about politics in the US that has bothered me for a long time, is the forcing of issues into dichotomies: one is either left or right, the answer is either this or that, etc.

I don’t like a system that forces me to choose between two, when there are lots of other choices out there.

I’m an “old lady” at this point, and I’ve voted all over the place, at different times in my life. It depended on the situation and conditions; but ultimately and always, it depended on my Principles.

I believe profoundly in the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, and the fairness that our Constitution affords to all Americans.

When my husband and I first met, I was a long-time employee of a large institution, and he was a very new employee there. We not only worked for the same institution, but in the same office.

After dating for a number of years, we married; we married while we were still working in the same office.

We were married for quite a while, before anyone but our boss and our closest coworkers knew anything about it. We didn’t break any rules - there were no rules against it.

But we felt that under the circumstances, with all of our workplace contacts having known me by my maiden name for 21 years, it would just be confusing to change my name.

(I also had a sentimental desire to honor my deceased father’s name by continuing to wear it, since he will have no grandchildren; neither my only sibling nor I have reproduced.)

So, there are many business, legal or personal reasons why a woman might desire to keep her maiden name, and a lot of them have nothing to do with “feminism”. I am not a feminist, but I decided to keep my maiden name for business, practical, and sentimental reasons. And some of you men out there, might find a lovely lady who has reasons to do the same. I suggest that it might not be such a total ‘deal breaker’, if your heart is in the right place! (Marriage isn’t about YOU; it’s about LOVE).

Above, I mentioned ‘dichotomies’, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve never signed up or posted until tonight, even though I greatly respect so many of the posters on FR, and regard FR as my main clearinghouse for reliable news and intelligent opinion on current events. I read FR every day.

But sometimes, there’s just so much “hard-line” here. It suggests to me that some people are more ideological than philosophical; and it also seems to me that this is the same problem that we have with the current Administration.

My best to all,
JT1630 (Whose Husband Approves This Message ;-)

Sorry if this is sloppy; I’m just learning this.


66 posted on 10/21/2014 8:10:20 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Better that than the evil hyphens.


67 posted on 10/21/2014 8:13:02 PM PDT by tomkat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goodwithagun

Assuming you’re speaking of the feral demøgraphic, the second one likely won’t be too far behind.


68 posted on 10/21/2014 8:14:52 PM PDT by tomkat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
I liked my father's name, so I kept it. All my paperwork and ID was in that name. People knew me by that name.

Men who are secure in who they are are not disturbed by women who know who they are and who do not need to borrow someone else's name.

Men who are insecure, especially those who want to go the "Mrs John Smith" route--the name of all the wives, no matter how many (!!!) need to do some reflection. The kids get dad's name, but the ownership thing makes me squirm--and as has been noted is not universal in all human cultures. Even in western cultures, some prominent families that had no sons took on sons-in-law who changed surnames to keep that name alive.

And don't tell me that I am a troll or a pinko commie. My days as a conservative go back to Goldwater. Any ugly attacks will simply unmask the non-gentlemanly.
69 posted on 10/21/2014 8:25:22 PM PDT by Nepeta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GraceG

“Or were you saying that you don’t agree with how my brother and sister in law named their children?”

No, I’m just more of a traditionalist. Other people can do whatever they want. It’s just a name, it’s not like it’s your identity. You could be be given a number and the sun would still rise in the morning.


70 posted on 10/22/2014 2:30:43 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: driftless2
So what if Ms. Smith-Jones marries another person with a hyphenated surname? Whose name(s) do they choose? Madness.

Just use them all. If everyone does this, in a few generations, we'll all be Puerto Rican

71 posted on 10/22/2014 2:41:05 AM PDT by southern rock
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: southern rock

I’m waiting for the hyphenated, eastern European, multi-syllable surname. Mary or Joe er sorry, Connor or Brittney Prozgexoxiysposjegsy-Meiziessxlvaieyetsky. Eventually pronouncing your surname for some people will be like a sketch from Monty Python.


72 posted on 10/22/2014 3:00:38 AM PDT by driftless2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: tomkat

Both assumptions are correct. The first was killed in retaliation to a murder exactly five years to the day. Little brother will be exacting his revenge soon, and so on and so on. It is unfortunate that they populate the earth during their brief stay here. Sadly, when I hear that a dealer is murdered I’m relieved to know that they can no longer cause harm.


73 posted on 10/22/2014 3:32:45 AM PDT by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I’m proud and honored to have my husband’s last name. For quite a while after we married in 1996, just signing a check made me so happy.

Shoot, it still does...he’s my blessing, and not taking his name would have been spitting in God’s face (and that of my husband).


74 posted on 10/22/2014 7:08:39 AM PDT by CatherineofAragon ((Support Christian white males---the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jamestown1630

May I be the first to say ‘Welcome to Free Republic’.

Thanks for your post.


75 posted on 10/22/2014 7:48:49 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: Genoa; GeronL
Progressive women are upset with Amal Clooney for doing what she wants.

The poll says that a "majority" believe the woman should do what she wants. It doesn't break that down into "believe she should keep her last name". And you are correct, it's like the pro-choice stance. You can be pro-choice so long as that choice is kill the baby. You can be pro-choice for last names so long as that choice is keep your maiden (father's) name.

76 posted on 10/22/2014 9:59:01 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Hey Obama: If Islamic State is not Islamic, then why did you give Osama Bin Laden a muslim funeral?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

Thanks, “Tex” :-)

Even though that was my first post, I feel like I’ve been here forever.

I’m thinkin’ I’ll stay for awhile...

JT1630


77 posted on 10/22/2014 6:59:55 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: GraceG; Genoa

In a hyphenated name, one name has to come first. The first name gets the prestige. Does the strongest partner of the lesbian relationship win that battle? Does the lesbian with the shortest haircut and biggest muscles win out? That’s a recipe for tension.


78 posted on 10/25/2014 6:45:03 PM PDT by heye2monn (MO)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-78 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson