better than having married women continue to use only their maiden names

Or married men continuing to use only *their maiden names, which *I have encountered.

When I bought my present house, the people from whom I bought it went to stay with her mother until they found new accommodations of their own. I needed to find them for some reason I misremember and could not have done so if the woman half of the couple who had owned the house had changed her last name on marriage.