Just watched the whole of Evangelion and noticed one of the male characters seems to take his wife's name when they marry. Is this usual in Japanese society?

This is from what I've heard which I would take a grain of salt when reading.

If the family is a long line descent for like maybe 15 generation, and the current generation, the successor, is female then sometimes the groom may have to use the bride's family-name in order to continue the family name.

I'm not sure if this is true, but that's what I've heard.

-Taison out

Sounds logical, or maybe the social status of the family 'overruling' the other.

Thanks

wouldn't say it's usual...but I'll ask next time we skype family over in Japan.

for interracial couples, sometimes it's easier to adopt the native last name. Japan in particular has some peculiar rules about having registered kanji names vs. kana names....especially if the interacial couple have kids.
My kids' mother is Japanese, and we decided the kids under her name. so they could also have kanji for their first names, we gave them Japanese middle names. So when the kids are in Japan, they legally have their middle name + mothers family name. When in the US they have their english first names + Japanese middle + my family last name.

why so complicated? The Japanese system of kanji vs. kana names is discriminitory....same way the US or any country sortof is with hard to pronounce foreign names. We decided it's easier on the kids to just conform.

so there is another possibility for spouse/kids to adopt the mother's family name: conformity.

Like I said Ed, it's just hear-saying. I can't verify my sources so. . bleah.

-Taison out

seems you were right

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A9e#Japan