Ok, call me old-fashioned or whatever, but I would take my husband's last name. The exception, of course, is if it somehow sounded really bizzare with my first name or something. I'm not too worried though - my boyfriend has a wonderful last name that sounds very nice with mine.
Perhaps I don't mind taking a man's last name due to the fact that my father thought ahead when I was born.
First though, let me explain that my family is Polish. My dad's family name is one of those fancy Polish "_______ski" names. When my dad was a boy, his father shortened the name to something people could pronounce! In the 1940s, it wasn't necessary to obtain court documents in order to change a name. Grandpa just went and stared using a shortend version of our family name.
My dad is the oldest son; he has two sisters. Therefore, it was up to my dad to have a son in order for the family name to be kept alive. I have one older sister. When she was born, my dad saw that she was a girl and decided that he better throw in the long Polish family name in after her middle name just to be safe (in case he never had any boys.) Then, three years later, I was born - another girl! So, he did it again.
Now, I actually never knew that. I always thought my full legal name was:
"Kelly Middlename ShortLastname."
But, when I came across my birth certificate a few years ago, I was surprised to see that my actual birth name is:
"Kelly Middlename Polishfamilyname ShortLastname."
I was just tickled pink! I love my heritage and I think it's great that my family's name will survive even though marriage will affect the process. I will continue what my father started. I will take my married name and, when I have children, they will be "Firstname Middlename Mom'sPolishfamilyname MarriedlastName."
All of my documents, driver's license, diplomas and stuff don't have my Polish family name on it so it's all good. It'll just be there silently in the background. Someone mentioned that women taking on married names messes up genealogy. I don't think that's the case. Genealogy is one of my hobbies. I find that it's actually easier sometimes to trace the movement of a family when there are married names there to help group people into branches. Either way, my father came up with a way to solve both problems!
......Kelly