New Place Finally and New Name?

So after lots of hours of apartment hunting, I have officially found a place to live next year! It's a 1/1 in a brand new condo conversion, and I will be the first person to live there after the place is renovated. It was a good deal for the area that it's in. So I'm excited, and the biggest chore of the summer will be complete as soon as I sign the lease this week.

Just wondering why the topic of women changing their names post-wedding is now a major topic of discussion. Has it always been and I just haven't noticed it? It popped up at Jim and Vicki's wedding of course. But it's popped up twice in the last week: once with Alice, since she's now engaged, and today at work. My coworker's wife's name has gotten all messed up on her credit report since she changed her name post-wedding. Kind of scary. And of course Alice didn't realize that you actually had to legally change your name.

I'm not entirely certain how I feel on the subject. On the one hand, I don't feel like I should have to take my future husband's name just because that's the norm. And there's the issue of having a doctoral degree with one name and living with another. However, I worry about society's pressure on my (future and possible) children if I have a different name from them. So it's a tricky subject that I don't have a good answer for. If anyone else does, I would love to hear it.