The age-old tradition of women taking a man's last name after getting married remains strong — with 79% of U.S. women in opposite-sex relationships revealing in a Pew Research Center poll that they took their spouse's last name.
However, attitudes toward the tradition seem to be shifting.
Among women ages 18 to 49, 20% said they kept their last name after they married their husband. It's a stark contrast to the 9% of women 50 and older who kept their maiden name.
Study: Increasing number of married couples earn similar pay
In a growing number of marriages, husbands and wives earn about the same. However, women are still doing more of the caregiving and housework.
In addition to a generational divide, there also appears to be a political divide on the topic. The survey showed Democratic and Democratic-leaning women were twice as likely as Republican and Republican-leaning women to keep their last name after marriage.
For the survey, men were also asked about taking their wife's last name. The vast majority, 92%, said they kept their last name, while only 5% took their wife's name. The remainder of the men polled said they hyphenated both names.
The Pew Research Center polled more than 3,000 U.S. adults for this survey. The organization noted that it didn't get enough participation among women and men in same-sex marriages to analyze how they decide to move forward with their names after tying the knot.
