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I'm having something of a debate with a man who uses feminism as the root of many of today's ills. (*eye roll*) One thing that has touched a nerve with him is women who use their maiden name as part of their married name. When I attempted to explain to him that in many, many cultures the woman retains her birth name after marriage, he tried to explain that away by saying that feminism is the root of THAT. I do believe that in certain cultures (Latin, Eastern European, Arabic), these practices have always been in place (or at least were in place before the rise of feminism), however, before confronting this person, I want to be sure of my facts. Besides, saying that feminism influenced naming practices in Arabic countries seems pretty silly to me.

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Does anyone here know of any historical sources on how married names evolved in non-English-speaking cultures?

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TIA.

This message was edited 7/19/2014, 2:18 PM