Laura Henshaw’s husband Dalton explains why he took her surname

Keep It Cleaner’s Laura Henshaw and her husband have explained why he took her surname and the “tough conversations” with family.

Fitness influencer and businesswoman Laura Henshaw’s husband has revealed why he took her surname in marriage, a decision that flooded the couple with praise on social media.

The Keep It Cleaner co-founder married Dalton Graham late last month, with Dalton becoming Mr Henshaw.

“It’s blown me away because the decision wasn’t too complicated for me,” Dalton said, speaking on the KIC POD podcast.

“The decision was pretty straight forward but to so many it was a shock.”

Laura said she too had underestimated how uncommon the move actually was.

She had offered to take Dalton’s surname and the couple had thought about hyphenating both their names, but Dalton ended up proposing the idea for him to become Mr Henshaw.

“I think I caught you off guard,” he said to Laura.

“I also know how hard you’ve worked to achieve what you have in your career and your name is so closely attached to being the CEO of Keep It Cleaner and the career you’ve carved out for yourself. It made a lot more sense for me to take your name.

“The biggest thing for me was I wanted to make sure our future kids had the same last name as their parents.”

In saying that, they stressed to their listeners “there’s no right or wrong”.

Dalton also explained his surname “didn’t carry the emotional weight” he knew surnames did for so many.

After making the decision, he said there were some “full on” conversations with his more traditional family.

“It’s definitely in the past and all family were present on the day. That’s the biggest thing at the end of the day,” he said.

“There was some tough conversations with my father and my mum but the reality is they supported me in the decision and were there on the day.”

The Melbourne couple say they were blown away by the support of their followers and hope more people will be prepared to have the conversation.

While there is no record kept of how many men have taken their partners’ surnames after marriage in Australia, a study published in the US in 2018 found only about 3 per cent of men took their wife’s surname or hyphenated their own after marriage.

The surname decision was not the only non-traditional choice for Laura and Dalton’s wedding.

There was no wedding cake but a dessert bar instead, and Laura walked herself down the aisle.

“I didn’t feel like I needed to be given away because I’m my own person,” she said.

Originally published as Laura Henshaw’s husband Dalton explains why he took her surname