As a potential academic... I'll either keep my last name or have a hyphenated name when I marry.

I am female... But that is what I shall do and I'll admit that if I hyphenate then it will be on the understanding that my husband does the same.

I think hyphenated last names (that are the same with a couple and with the children of the couple) help reduce complexity for the children since some people aren't very understanding about this... It seems to help things go smoother if the parents and the children have the same names...

I would expect... That that is why he did it. I'd imagine that he would have talked to his wife or his wife to be about it and thought that it sounded reasonable. He might be surprised to know that you feel badly about it... I'll admit that I hadn't thought to bring it up with my father at all... Just was planning on going ahead with it (if I marry).

- edited to include:

Ah... Sorry, I just got what you meant with the 'blending' names thing rather than hyphenating them. My one concern about marrying someone and hyphenating the last names is what will happen if hyphenated kids go on to marry hyphenated kids. I think... My father might feel badly if I did that... But that being said, I'd say they did it maybe to avoid that situation for their kids...