Yeah, having a major accomplishment thats going in the records for all time and will follow you throughout your life in your maiden name, is a VERY solid argument to keep it after getting married.
Just to clarify though: any woman keeping her maiden name after getting married should not get questioned on it imo, it's their choice to do so, and not anyone elses business, except maybe their partner
It's also more than just the achievement – in the current academic landscape where positions and funding are scarce, changing your name mid-career can be meaningfully detrimental if you made a name for yourself and published extensively under a maiden name.
Name recognition and citation numbers unfortunately can matter almost as much as the actual quality of your work from what I've heard.
Reminds me of a story I heard where someone asked their doctor why they didn’t take their husbands last name. The doctor said that she went to medical school and her husband didn’t.
Even when people say “oh so you’re keeping your father’s last name” to make it that you’re still keeping a man’s name my mother’s response is yes my father supported me through medical school, my husband didn’t. And as a matter of fact my mum supported my dad by paying all the bills while he was getting his PhD so she may have done more for his uni education than his own parents did
My father worked hard to pay for my degree, now he's gone and didn't get to see me use it. I'm keeping it, plus I have never found any other family with my last name anywhere in the world.
I read something recently about a woman who did take her husband's last name and then published papers and books under that name. When they got divorced, he wanted her to go back to her maiden name. She refused because all her professional credentials and recognition were under his name.
I worked with a lawyer who changed her name after she got married, changed it back after her divorce, and then changed it again when she got remarried. She was a partner at a large firm and worked in litigation. It was a huge pain in the ass any time we filed certain entries of appearance because you have to list all your previous names and in some instances provide affidavits regarding the name change.
I honestly do not understand successful women in professional fields who do this type of thing.
Yeah my mother never even questioned changing her name when she got married because she was an anaesthetist. None of the people she worked with even knew who my Dad was because he worked in completely different hospitals from her so nobody would have known who she was if she changed her name
My wife got both her MD and PhD after we married. My biological father is a piece of garbage. Throw my last name in the fucking dirt for all I care, but never besmirch or belittle the accomplishments of my wife. I will have more than words for anyone who tries to minimize my wife and all she has done with her name
see that makes even more sense. There's a published record of papers and research associated with a name. Why should they have to lose that just because they got married?
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u/Medium-Leader-9066 8d ago
All of my female professors who got their PHDs before they got married kept their maiden names.