Why do women have to take the man's surname when giving birth?

Under the influence of the concept of "children inherit their father's business", the tradition that children in China take their father's surname has a history of thousands of years. In the past thousands of years, there seems to be not much controversy about surnames, and it is ideal and natural for children to take their fathers' surnames.

In fact, children take their father's surname to stipulate their rights and obligations, and point to the paternal family. A child's surname indicates which family's inheritance he has and which family's affairs he has the responsibility and obligation to.

Children take their father's surname, so that the flow of inheritance will always benefit the immediate family members of men, and it also ensures that children can always be loyal to their male relatives. This is the role of surnames, and it is also the fundamental reason why we should follow the father's surnames-the direction to ensure the implementation of patriarchal social rights and obligations.

In fact, it is most natural for children to take their mother's surname. Because the mother never has to doubt whether the child is her own, and the father has no such natural guarantee. The tradition of taking the father's surname is endowed by the social system. Since it has never existed, it will not exist forever.

Based on the above reasons, it is easy to understand why the marriage of inverted doors begins with the mother's surname. Because the child's paternal line has no inheritance right at all, and the inheritance right mainly comes from the maternal line, in order to show that the child has the maternal inheritance right, the child must follow the maternal line.

In ancient times, the inheritance of most families came from the paternal line, so most children took their father's surname to show their inheritance rights. The daughter will take her husband's surname in the future. When she loses her surname, she also loses the right and obligation to inherit.

According to Article 16 of China's Marriage Law: "Children can take their father's surname or their mother's surname."

Taking the father's surname will give men a sense of responsibility and pride. Whether in China or in western countries, surnames usually take the father's surname. In addition, in western countries, women take their husbands' surnames after marriage. In old China, women also took their husbands' surnames. If a woman surnamed Qian marries a man surnamed Zhao, she can be called "Zhao Qian".

After the founding of New China, equality between men and women was advocated. The phenomenon of women changing their surnames after marriage has almost disappeared. But the surname is still the father's surname.