List of people who adopted matrilineal surnames
This is a list of notable people who have changed, adopted or adjusted their surnames based on a mother's or grandmother's maiden name. Included are people who changed their legal names and people who created personal or professional pseudonyms. Under longstanding Western custom and law, children are customarily given the father's surname, except for children born outside marriage, who often carry their mother's family names. In mediaeval times where a great family died out in the male line, an alternative male heir to the estates was selected as one  of the younger sons of a daughter, who was required by the bequest to adopt, by royal licence, in lieu of his patronymic, his maternal surname and coat of arms for himself and his descendants. This was also the origin of double-barrelled surnames, where the paternal surname was partially retained, or resurrected by a later generation. The compliance with the terms of the bequest was essential to avoid challenge by another potential heir in the lawcourts. In the 1970s some women began to adopt their mother's maiden name as their legal surnames. People in Sweden have recently begun  adopting maternal line surnames in an effort to broaden the number of last names in the country. Such practices add considerable difficulties to the study of genealogy and family history. Stage names. Many actors and other entertainers elect to add or include their mothers' maiden names in their adopted stage names. The book "How to be a Working Actor: The Insider's Guide to Finding Jobs in Theater, Film, and Television" advises aspiring performers to consider changing their names, noting that "if [your birth name] is difficult to spell, pronounce, or remember, it may not be the name you want  for your professional career." It goes on to suggest: "If you want to retain a connection to your family, try using your mother's maiden name or the name of a revered relative." A person's mother's maiden name is used by many financial institutions as a key piece of information to validate a customer's identity. In 2005, researchers showed that the common practice of using a mother's maiden name as the basis for a stage name could be exploited to entice people to reveal that name and other details that could allow fraudsters to steal their  identities. Researchers asked a random sample of people on London streets a series of questions, beginning with "What is your name?" They then engaged in conversation about theatre, asked people if they knew how actors choose their stage names, then told them that stage names were typically a combination of the name of a pet and the mother's maiden name. Next the participants were asked what their stage names would be; 94% responded by revealing both their mother's maiden name and a pet's name.