Millennial grooms take spouse’s name

[00:00.39] No one knows how long humans have been giving themselves names, but one thing is sure: surnames are a much more recent idea than given names.

[00:13.14] In Europe, surnames were developed to distinguish between individuals who had the same moniker.

[00:21.37] They were brought to the UK by the French nobility following the Norman Conquest around the 12th century and became common around the 14th century.

[00:32.53] Another tradition that the Normans introduced was that of coverture.

[00:37.31] This was a law which said that a woman became a man's property when they got married.

[00:43.42] In those days, only a man could be the head of the family and allowed to own property.

[00:49.80] At this point the bride lost her maiden name.

[00:53.78] Over time, this has led to the tradition that upon marriage a woman relinquishes her maiden name and takes on her new husband’s family name.

[01:06.53] Fast forward to the present. These days a woman choosing not to change her name to match her husband’s after marriage has long been a norm.

[01:17.42] The first recorded case is widely believed to be an American suffragette called Lucy Stone.

[01:25.65] When she got married in 1855, she refused to take her husband's name.

[01:32.30] After that, other ideas such as merging and double-barrelling also became common.

[01:39.73] However, it would seem that a new trend is arising.

[01:44.25] One in ten millennial males is now electing to replace their surname with their wife’s.

[01:52.75] That's according to a recent study of 2000 UK adults by Opinium, a strategic insight agency.

[02:01.51] In a BBC article, Rory Dearlove née Cook, explained that for him it wasn’t important to keep his surname.

[02:11.08] He thought it would be nice for his wife and him to have the same last name.

[02:17.45] The bride, Lucy, had made it clear before getting married that she had no intention of changing hers, but thought that he would keep his too.

[02:28.87] “He's entitled to keep his just as I am entitled to keep mine,” she commented.

[02:36.57] Other men had different reasons.

[02:39.50] Charlie Shaw, dubbed 'Morley' at birth, explained that it was, “a gesture of allegiance and an opportunity to acknowledge the unseen patriarchal bias and sexism in our society.”

[02:55.70] It’s worth noting that, in the UK at least, only the fathers of the couple being married are on the marriage certificate. The mothers do not appear at all.

[03:09.25] However, not everyone is in favour of altering tradition.

[03:14.82] Rachel Robnett, a researcher at the University of Nevada, surveyed a number of people in the US and UK and found that a man whose wife keeps her maiden name is viewed as ‘feminine’, while the woman was believed to ‘wear the trousers’.

[03:33.95] And when one family found out that their son was to take his wife’s name, they refused to attend the wedding.

[03:41.65] To them it was proof that he was totally under the thumb.

[03:47.50] ‘What’s in a name?’ Shakespeare asked in Romeo and Juliet.

[03:52.01] It would seem, depending on who you talk to, a great deal.

[03:56.53] Whether maintaining traditional naming conventions, keeping the surname, or swapping names, these days at least there is a choice to be made.