I guess I was
pretty lucky in this department. My husband is Italian, and in
Italy
women don't take their husband's last name. They just don't.
I think it has
something to do with laws of
inheritance. Anyway,
on all
legal documents, the woman's name becomes "FirstName MaidenName
in MarriedName," so that if
Juliet Jones married Billy Bones, her
name on legal documents would be Juliet Jones in Bones.
The kids, of course (?), take the father's last name, unless
the wife's family is more noble.
So it wasn't an issue, and I didn't even think about it until one
day a newlywed professional woman said to me, "I notice your husband
lets you keep your name." And I thought "lets me?" She was
bitter about it because she was fairly well known in her field and
all of a sudden it was like she was no one, and had to go through
the effort of getting her new name out. It was a setback for her.
In my case, I am legally the same as when I was born, but socially
sometimes it's just easier to call myself by his last name.