12 Answers

My wife discussed this with her son and it was his wish for his mother to keep his surname. I fully understood this as I know I would have wanted exactly the same had I been in his position. He was at the time eleven years old.

I did not do that when I was divorced and really dont know anyone who did.

Many do that for the children's sake.

To save the trouble of updating lots of personal reccords and for minimizing children's confusion. 

If they have children with the ex, some keep it for their children's sake. Some kids and even parents have a problem with having different last names of each other.  Sometimes the woman has a professional career where her clients have known her right along through her ex's last name. 

It's a matter of who you're known as, it's a record of how you can still be found.  Harlan is not my name I was born with but am known by no other name......

You got good answers: career, children, avoid changing legal documents.

I had no trouble changing to my married name from my maiden name.  I don't know how I would feel about changing my name if I remarried. My initial thought is to use my current surname as a "middle" name and take the surname of the new hubby as my last name..  

Never heard of any that do in Australia.

May be it is a US thing.

Most women I knew gave the name back when they got the divorce. I did. I go by my maiden name, so does my son!

It reminds them who to complain to about the paltry alimony allowance.

I'm amazed at how many members have been through a divorce. I thought the statistics were around 50%, seems it's more like 90%. 

Women who keep a former name usually do so when they are in the business world because it's difficult to find someone when there is a name change. Men don't change thier last names no matter how many times they get re-married. It's purposeful for business reasons. Makes sense to me when my sister-in-law did the same thing thirty years ago.