Who says we have to stick to tradition? Why aren't there any symbolic things for the husband joining his wife's family? There is nothing wrong with doing something different from cultural norms.

Yes and at one point slavery was the cultural norm... You can't be serious! You know I vowed never to be my own mother BUT, "if everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?!" Think for yourself.

**** you, there really is no "cultural norm" here. There are plenty of "social norms" that are archaic and stupid. I never changed my last name and I'm glad I didn't considering the divorce rate. My ex knew I wasn't changing my name but then made a huge deal of it after the wedding. I told him that if it was so important that we have the same last name he could change his. It's a huge pain in the ass to change your name on all your documents. It's perfectly legal for a woman to use either name without officially changing it. Why should it always be the woman that makes sacrifices for a relationship?

That was a really sexist thing to say. Who cares about a "social norm" it's making his wife happy which is more important in marriage.

He should do that because its the cultural norm? It used to be the cultural norm for the woman to not work and just take care of house and family. If no one went against that then a lot of families would be struggling with just one income now. Social norms doesn't necessarily mean you have to follow all of them.

It's a war zone out here!-hides in a fox hole-

97 actually when women started to work in america and leave the house there was a lot of objection to it but women WANTED more "freedom"

It also used to be "tradition" to stone people to death for saying crap like that.

Yeah I mean it's not like it's not going against the grain and risking a "socially acceptable manly" reputation or anything.

Not just that, but women have to go through all the craziness of changing all their legal documents, credit cards, photo ID's, and all other items that are used on a daily basis to identify her or pay for items. I just wonder if the man has more to do then check the box that says "married" instead of "single."

It's just aggravating that most people still seem to think that a woman's name and personal identity is not important, while a man's is important. Also agreed with 87.

Exactly.! Thank you! Also whenever a man is being emotional it's all so amazing whilst it's expected for females to be soft and sensitive. FFS.

It's not just that he's taking her name, it's that he's willing to do so despite probably opening himself up to a lifetime of ridicule and explaining.

Hyphening is considered rude to some families and if OP's family feels that strongly about him taking her name, then they might not like her not fully taking him name and still keeping hers. People are more accepting of hyphenations when it's the rich or famous.

But didn't hyphenation come about for just this situation? When the woman's family name would end with her. It's a way to keep both names alive. They can be a mouthful though.

...and how new traditions are made. Change isn't always bad. If we're going with you're logic we should all have slaves, women should be in the kitchen and the firstborn son should inherit everything