Suffragette Lucy Stone is remembered as the first modern woman who decided to keep her maiden name after marriage – that was back in the 1850s. The trend took more than a century to peak in the 1990s, when nearly a quarter of women bucked the tradition of taking on their husband’s name. Since then, that number has been in steady decline. According to the wedding website theknot.com, today a mere eight percent of women stick with their given name. Of course, that doesn’t mean the decision has gotten any easier to make. Word of Mouth’s Taylor Quimby reports on the reasoning, and occasional regret, behind the decision to keep or leave behind a name.
