What’s in a [married last] name?

Your definitive guide to women, politics and power.

Sep 08, 2023 View in browser   By Sophie Gardner POLITICO illustration/Photos by Getty Images Hi Rulers! I hope you’re all enjoying your last few weeks of summer. I for one am excited for fall festivities. Send me tips and feedback: sgardner@politico.com. There’s been plenty of discussion about Nikki Haley’s name since she jumped into the crowded GOP primary. In February, a rumor circulated around X, then called Twitter, that she changed her first name from “Nimarata” to “Nikki,” implying that she thought that “Nikki” would be more palatable for voters because it sounds more "white." Nikki is actually her middle name, and she’s long used it instead of her first name, “Nimarata.” But the less discussed is her decision to go by her married last name, Haley, as opposed to the last name she was born with, “Randhawa.” There’s been some implication that Haley also made this change to polish her political persona, but it’s been less of a sticking point. Perhaps because taking a husband’s last name is still far from unusual; it overwhelmingly remains the status quo. On Thursday, Pew Research Center released a report which found that eight out of 10 women in heterosexual marriages took their husband’s last name, while 14 percent said they kept their last name and 5 percent said they hyphenated both names. The study is the fist of its kind by Pew, and there’s little other data to compare it to. But even without older data, that high number “suggests that this is a tradition that’s going strong,” says Juliana Horowitz, Pew’s associate director of research. “That doesn’t mean that it’s not changing.” The researchers also asked women (of all sexual orientations) who are unmarried how they would handle the last name question. Those results are much less definitive: 33 percent say they would take their spouse’s last name, 23 percent would keep their last name and 17 percent would hyphenate both names (24 percent said they aren’t sure). Anecdotal data suggests that women in politics may be more likely to find themselves in the “keep their name” camp than the general public. Take the 25 women in the Senate, for example: 12 decided to take their husband's names (including ex-husbands and deceased husbands), while nine kept their family name. The rest opted for some combination of both. Those numbers likely have something to do with their political careers, where the going currency is name recognition. But sometimes name recognition can backfire, too, if your husband is also a political bigwig. Think of Hillary Clinton, whose husband’s scandal-plagued presidency was used against her in her 2016 run. Donald Trump memorably used criticism of Bill Clinton’s treatment of women to deflect questions about the Access Hollywood tapes. Discussion and judgments around how much of a role her husband should play in her campaign were also commonplace. These issues would not have gone away if Hillary and Bill did not share a last name, but it may have made it easier for the then-presidential nominee to set herself apart from her spouse. Earlier in her marriage, she went by “Hillary Rodham Clinton,” “Rodham” being her maiden name, and she’s flip-flopped between the two throughout her political career. And sharing a last name with a politically prominent husband could complicate campaign messaging. (Worth noting: many of Clinton's 2016 slogans didn’t include her last name.) But the other options come with their own complications. For women getting married after they already have an established political career, changing a last name risks confusing voters. And a long, hyphenated last name or two last names might be hard to fit on, say, a bumper sticker. But choosing to keep a family name may not align with some people’s beliefs, and may break a tradition that they hoped to participate in. So where did this tradition come from? Catherine Allgor, president of the Massachusetts Historical Society who has studied the subject says it’s not as romantic as we’ve made it out to be. “A woman taking the last name of her husband is a tradition now, but it was the law and it was because in law, women were closer to property than people.” Allgor says the idea originates from a British legal tradition called “coverture.” “When white Europeans, British people came over [to the U.S.], they brought British law with them.” Coverture “holds that a female person does not have a legal identity. When she's a baby or child, she's covered by her father's identity, and then when she's married, she is covered by her husband,” Allgor tells Women Rule. “It’s not romantic.” She’s unsure why unmarried women today, who she says likely don’t know the tradition’s origins, seem to be losing some interest in taking their spouse’s last name, but she’s encouraged by the trend. “I think if people knew the horrible scenario — the reason for this, they wouldn’t do it.” POLITICO Special Report Seth Wenig/AP Photo “Trump suffers another legal loss to E. Jean Carroll, as judge rules he defamed her as president,” by Erica Orden for POLITICO: “A federal judge ruled Wednesday that former President Donald Trump defamed the writer E. 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Research has found that the duration, the frequency, the severity and even the types of symptoms can look different across races.” “Mexico decriminalizes abortion, extending Latin American trend of widening access to procedure,” by Fabiola Sánchez and Megan Janetsky for The Associated Press. Quote of the Week Read more here. on the move Juliet Gilliam has been named vice president of media & entertainment partnerships for the National Park Foundation. She was previously head of impact entertainment and talent integration at the Special Olympics International. Maggie Polachek is now senior director at Evergreen Strategy Group. She most recently was a special adviser for implementation at the EPA, and is a Biden White House alum (h/t Playbook PM).   Follow us on Twitter Sophie Gardner @sophie_gardnerj   Follow us

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