Argumentation Essay

Piyabalo Padaro

Instructor: Dr. Beardslee Kwasney

English 121

08 August 2012

Does a woman have to take her husband’s last name after marriage?

I was happy when I got married on 23 February, 2009 to my high school sweetheart Felicia

Levi. As we both agreed, she kept her last name on our marriage certificate. After three days, I

returned to my Command to resume work. I took the marriage certificate to my administration

office to change my marital status as required by U.S Navy regulations. I handed the marriage

certificate to the Administrative clerk, Joseph Brandon. When he started entering the data into

the system, he asked me why my wife’s name is not Felicia Padaro. I told him that we chose not

to change her maiden name. He then told me that he wanted to check with the administration

supervisor before he could continue. There are several marriage scams going on in the military,

and he believed that the Administration office needed to verify my marriage to make sure it is a

lawful marriage. The Administration personnel took more than two weeks to confirm all my

marriage information in the court where we married, before changing my marriage status in the

database. The administration supervisor told me it took that long because my wife did not use my

last name after she married me. It seems to me, in 2012, that it should not be cause for suspicion

if a woman does not change her name with marriage.  The marriage name-change tradition is

outdated, and we need to allow couples the freedom to do as they see fit without worry of

repercussions from society. 

The marriage name-change is an old concept dated many centuries ago, when women were

required to take their husbands’ names after marriage. For economical and unity reasons, at that

time, couples have to use husbands’ names on all families documents to...