I've had the full gamut on names. When we first got married some 20+ years ago, I didn't change my name. My H didn't have a strong preference either way and I liked my family name.
That lasted for a few years until we decided to have children. Then I decided to change my name but used my maiden name as my middle name and added his name as my last (you know like "Hillary Rodham Clinton" except that was before she was ever in the public eye and I was kinda pissed she had seemed to take my idea
). I did that for several years, but it was a royal pain - everyone always tried to stick a hyphen in my name but it wasn't supposed to be hyphenated.
Eventually, I changed my last name to his and am perfectly happy with it. My mom still occasionally calls me by my family's name, which I think is funny.
I guess you can see my transition and growth throughout my marriage based upon my name.
~ Red
