Strategic Use of Acquired Surnames Among Female Academics

Abstract It is often more difficult for academics to adopt a new surname after marriage, as they may wish to preserve their established academic reputation. However, adopting a new surname may be advantageous for those who publish in alphabetical author order when the acquired surname begins with an earlier initial than their birth name. In this paper, we analyzed the surname usage of 4,199 female academics from leading institutions worldwide and examined the origins of their multiple surnames. We found that only 6.8% of female academics use an acquired surname, and only 2.8% have changed their surname initial over a median of 20 years of academic experience. Female academics whose publications are mostly alphabetically ordered are more likely to use a surname with an earlier initial (odds ratio: 1.48–2.06). However, this strategic behavior does not differ significantly depending on whether their multiple surnames are culturally inherited or acquired.