50% of Americans think that women should be legally mandated to take their husband's last names...why?

Thanks to Feministing.com for informing me on some strange statistics. According to the American Sociological Association, a recent study concluded that 50% of Americans think that women should be legally mandated to take their husband's last names.

Laura Hamilton, the study's lead author says that when respondents were asked why they thought women should change their last names, "they told us that women should lose their own identity when they marry and become a part of the man and his family."

As if this wasn't bizarre enough....author of Feministing made mention that "it was not so long ago that a couple in Washington, DC was denied a birth certificate for their child because they wanted to give the baby the mother's last name. Also, in 2004 a Pennsylvania court denied a petition from a woman who wanted her daughter to have a hyphenated last name; they said it was "in the best interests of the child" to have only her father's last name."

I'd like to hear more from people who hold values such as these. I simply do not understand. I'd like to know what their specific thinking is behind this decision. I believe women should have the freedom to hyphenate, change their name or leave it be.

If I marry I will choose to leave my name as is. Why? Simply because I have a name and there is no real point to claiming a new one. It really is that simple. I do not wish to offend those who chose to alter their names. This is just my personal choice. But to think that there are some who wish to force me to change my name if I marry? It is all so backwards.