> In medieval England, men who married women from wealthier, more prestigious families would sometimes take their wife’s last name, says Stephanie Coontz, a professor of marriage and family history at Evergreen State College. From the 12th to the 15th century, Coontz told me, in many “highly hierarchical societies” in England and France, “class outweighed gender.”

It's not that I am particularly high-born; in fact, I think her family would count as much more high-status than mine. But her family name is very ordinary, and my surname sounds royal and is spelled in a very old-style aristocratic way. I strongly believe this has given me opportunities I would not otherwise have gotten, and it's something we both think it'd be foolish to give up.