[user104658]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

there is just no need to take another name unless you want to. I dont have any idea why it should be that the woman takes the mans name at this point. Also, from a professional point of view, its just not practical sometimes to change names.

True about professional name; my wife had already taken my name before she started "making a name for herself" but now that she's made some headway with that, especially as she's published several papers and articles, we have commented that if we ever separated for any reason she would probably just have to keep the name and not revert back.

I imagine the same dilemma applies for those who have built a reputation as their maiden name.