India, June 9 -- When I got married, I switched from Khanna, the name I was born with, and took on Bhandare, the name my husband was born with.

Pick your battles, I rationalized at the time. In any case, my last name was taken from a man, my father, so dropping it for another man, my husband, didn't seem that terrible.

Over three decades later, trying to connect with a college alumni group I had not been in touch with for some years, I couldn't remember my user name. Namita Khanna Bhandare or just Namita Khanna as I was back then?

The debate over the last names of women post-marriage remains even though more and more Gen Z and millennial women are asserting their right to retain the names they were born with. If I was to take a decisio...