Married couples who don’t share the same last name are more likely to get divorced

Key Points:

• Married couples who do not share a last name have a 50% higher divorce rate and tend to divorce sooner, averaging eight to 10 years before filing, compared to about 12 years for couples with the same surname, according to data analyzed by the Institute for Family Studies.
• The report suggests that couples sharing more commonalities, including surnames, may adopt a "team-first approach" to marriage, fostering cooperation and trust, while couples with different last names might include those who married hastily or eloped.
• Bureaucratic challenges related to changing legal names may discourage divorce among couples with shared surnames, as the process of reverting to a maiden name involves significant paperwork.
• Approximately 75-80% of married couples nationwide share surnames, with conservative, white, older, and less-educated women more likely to take their spouse’s last name; 86% of women over 50 and 74% under 29 have adopted their partner’s surname.
• The report did not specify exact divorce rates for couples with different versus same last names beyond the relative increase in divorce likelihood for those with different surnames.