One woman is pushing back on marriage traditions, and her theory is based purely on vibes.
A TikTok video posted by Angie Pantuosco (@angiepantuosco) has gone viral for her "hot take" on who should take whose name after getting married. Answer? Whoever has the cooler last name. Since it was posted, her video has received over 490,000 likes and over 8,500 comments.
"I've been saying this for forever, but when two people get married, they should take the cooler last name," she said in the video.
Pantuosco speaks from experience: "My mom, her maiden name was Thomas—she didn't stand a chance...she was doomed from the start, you know, she was going to take the man's last name," she said in the video. "She couldn't really take her stand in feminism at that point.
"Me, however, I have a very cool last name. My last name is Pantuosco. You guys think I'm changing that? No. It's cool and it's fun...I will die on this hill."
Viewers in the comments resoundingly agreed—the majority of whom, however, had cool last names. Some even grieved the loss of their mothers' cool maiden names.
"My mom's maiden name is Ferrari! How do you think I feel?" @clairesully27 wrote.
"My last name is Love...that's not getting taken, over my dead body," @b.love1672 wrote.
"My last name is literally Savage," @sarah.t.sav wrote. "You will have to chip that name off my tombstone for me to no longer have it."
@angiepantuosco cooler last name wins!! it could all be so simple!! #storytime #hottake #fyp #historytime
♬ original sound - angie
Men's Last Names Still Reign
In a survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2023, researchers found that the majority of couples still adhere to the tradition that Pantuosco is pushing against.
Most women in opposite sex marriages—79 per cent—reported taking their husband's last name when they got married. Men in opposite sex marriages also overwhelmingly reported keeping their last name.
A small proportion of both sexes decided to hyphenate their and their partner's last names. For women, this came out to 5 percent. For men, less than 1 percent.
The numbers become more varied when it comes to women who have never been married. Only 33 per cent said they would take their partner's last name—a stark difference from the 79 per cent of married women who already have. Conversely, 23 per cent said they would keep their last name.
Some of the divides lay along the lines of age, education and political beliefs. Women between the ages of 18-49, for example, were found to keep their last names more than women over 50.
People in the comments on Pantuosco's TikTok video seem to be offering even more out-of-the-box ideas, though.
"My partner wants my last name and I hate my last name, so we are tempted to just swap," @jadedlane wrote.
Newsweek reached out to @angiepantuosco for comment via TikTok.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
