Should a bride take their husband's last name?
As the August 20th wedding approaches for Kim Kardashian and fiance, New Jersey Nets Forward Kris Humphries, many wonder if she will ditch the infamous Kardashian name, as sources close to Kim previously reported.
VOTE: Did you take your husband's last name?
Her mother, Kris Jenner, who took her first and second husband's last names weighed in on the matter: "I don't think she should take his name and be Kim Humphries," Jenner said. "She needs to be Kim Kardashian because she's worked so hard to get where she is."
Kim's reported decision to become Mrs. Humphries reflects a diminishing trend of married women keeping their last name. The number of women maintaining their maiden names after marriage peaked in the 1990s, when about 23 percent of women did so, then decreased to about 18 percent in the 2000s, says a 35-year-study published in 2009 in the journal Social Behavior and Personality. Now according to the wedding website TheKnot.com, who surveyed nearly 19,000 married women last year, just 8 percent of women keep their maiden names.
The decision to keep or change the last name is a difficult and personal choice for any woman, says Rachel Sussman, a licensed clinical social worker and marriage and family therapist in New York City.
"A lot of women feel if they're going to have children, they don't want to have a different last name than their children," Sussman says. "It's also tradition. When you watch the Kardashians, family is very important to them. Kim might feel she wants to honor her husband or a tradition. I don't think any woman should be judged for that."
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