Attitudes Toward Married Persons’ Surnames in Twenty-First Century Japan

Through Article 750 of the Japanese Civil Code, Japan is the only developed country to require that a married couple must choose either the husband’s or the wife’s surname upon marriage. We examine how traditional gender ideology and preference for the three-generation family household are associated with the level of support for conjugal surname sharing, from full support for the wife taking her husband’s surname to support for neither the wife or husband changing their name. We estimate generalized ordered logit models with data from the 2000–2003, 2006, and 2010 Japanese General Social Survey. Findings indicate that those who hold more traditional gender ideology are more likely to endorse surname sharing at all levels. Those who prefer the traditional extended family household are more likely to acknowledge at least some merit in a married couple sharing a surname, but they are less likely to say that the wife should take her husband’s surname without question. Attitudes toward conjugal surname sharing may have important symbolic implications for gender equality as well as potential impact on the surname law.