What is the origin of western women's surname after marriage?

It is a custom for western women to take their husbands' surnames after marriage. However, from 1960s to 1990s, with the constant decline of feminism, some western women still kept their original surnames after marriage. In recent years, in Britain and the United States, it is up to women to decide whether to take their husband's surname after marriage, and there is no mandatory requirement. For example, they can add their husbands' surnames to their names on the basis of keeping their original surnames.

First, there is no such custom in China. China has never taken her husband's surname since ancient times. Only in some dynasties when the status of women was relatively low, women did not call them by their first names, but called them by their first names, such as Wang and Liu. Most of them are women who don't deserve a name, but in many developed countries, wives take their husbands' surnames. This also shows that western women seem to be less free in women's names, and it is precisely because of this that China culture emerged.

Second, the concept of surnames in Europe and America is not very strong. In Europe and America, there is less emphasis on clan consciousness than in China. The ancients attached great importance to names. For example, in martial arts novels, people often don't change their names or surnames. The family name is given to you and cannot be changed easily. But in western countries, they think that men and women will form a new family after marriage, so women take their husbands' surnames, so that the whole family has the same surname. Unlike China, there are not so many things about mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. They think that marriage is to break away from the original family and form a new family, so taking the husband's surname is more conducive to managing the family.

Third, some countries still retain this system. Nowadays, many western feminists object to women taking their husbands' surnames after marriage, but some countries still keep this old custom, including many Chinese in Taiwan Province Province, Hongkong and Macau in the old days. In fact, the concept of equality in ancient China was much stronger than that in the West. We always say that ancient society was feudal, but in fact, this situation is more serious in the west, and inequality exists at all levels.