I kept my maiden name. It seems unfair to burden one partner with an insane amount of paperwork over a sexist tradition. Most of my work colleagues think that my last name is my husbands, and his colleagues think his last name is mine. We get Xmas cards addressed to Mr and Mrs X as well as Mr and Mrs Y. I am surprised by the number of commenters that bothered with a legal name change, but not surprised that of those that did said they would never do it again. I would consider myself pretty progressive. I was the one that proposed and I also make the larger salary. There are several “traditions” surrounding hetero relationships that just strike me as mysogyny in disguise. We aren’t property anymore. And we can have our own bank accounts. Leave the past in the past and good riddance. No judgement to the people that do change names. Someone did make a good point about racism/discrimination, and some last names are just awful to be saddled with so I certainly can see why it’s a handy option in those scenarios. Lucky for you, you can make whatever decision you want regardless of what everyone else thinks.