Dr. GURU speaks,
Your first and middle names are given to you by your parents. They may be the names of important ancestors/relatives, have etymological interest to your parents, be a namesake, or simply sound nice to them.
Your surname(s) depends on the culture, religion, state or province you were born in. The legal, social, professional and private use of surnames may also vary in each of the above groups.
There are several name-change options after getting married:
1) Wife replaces her surname with her Husband’s surname;
2) Husband replaces his surname with his Wife’s surname;
3) Both retain their surnames;
4) Both retain their surnames as middle-names and take on the other’s surname;
5) Both retain their surnames and take on the other’s surname as middle-names;
6) Both surnames are hyphenated in either combination (double-barrelled surname);
7) Fuse both surnames to make one new surname;
8) Create a new surname.
Countries where married women normally use their Husband’s surname (Option 1): United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Japan, India, USA, Canada, Australia, Gibraltar, and Falkland Islands.
Countries where women do not change their names after marriage (Option 3): Islamic countries, Spain, Belgium, China, Vietnam, and Korea.
Countries where married couples use both surnames (Option 6): Luxemburg, Belgium, and Italy.
The choice of any possible surname changes after marriage is to be left to personal preference.
Personally, I believe it is better to have two surnames which are hyphenated; one from the Mother and the other from the Father. If both people in a couple have double-barrelled surnames, on getting married, they can use the surname of the Mother from one partner and that of the Father from the other to form a new hyphenated surname. Any children are then given this double-barrelled surname. This shows respect and honour to both men and women, and helps to trace patrilinearity and matrilinearity.
The GURU must now sleep.