My wife kept hers as well. I hate it when people think she was trying to make some sort of feminist statement by doing that. She kept her name because it's two letters versus my ten. She liked having a short name and didn't feel like going through the hassle of changing it. I have never cared once about it.
My parents are pretty old fashioned and will still address things to her treating her last name like a middle name and then tacking on mine at the end. It's kinda disrespectful to my wife IMO, but she tells me it's not worth it to make a big deal about it.
I wasn't making a statement, although I see nothing wrong with being a feminist or thinking women should be treated equally. My MIL said she was just going to call me by his last name anyway, which I found odd since she hates me. My thought process was more:
1. He fell in love with me. I'm not changing who I am or who we are as a couple.
2. My two degrees and all of my professional contacts are my name, not his.
3. I don't want to change all of the crap I have my name on.
4. My first name is boring, his last name is boring, and combined, there is a fictional character with that name.
5. My last name is much shorter and fits into those form boxes way better.
As for the kids, everyone knows they are mine, they came out of my body. We'll make sure he gets some credit too.
