<human>: My girlfriend and I are in love and have consulted about marriage many a time. I'll be proposing this year (still working out how to do it) but something both of us struggle with is what happens to our last names when we do. Typically (in Australia at least), she'll take my last name and I understand that to a great extent it is determined by culture. My dilemma is that i'm not satisfied with my available options. The way I'm seeing it:

1) She takes my last name and we 'conform' to the typical traditions and expectations that society has accepted to be considered normal. Why does she have to forgo her last name? 

2) I take her last name. Ok so I'm challenging the social norms. I'm not conforming to past notions. I'm standing up for my belief in the equality of men and women. But am I? Does me taking her name actually mean anything besides dinner table conversations?

3) We do a hyphenated mix of both of our last names. It'll sound ugly but it's fair. 

4) We both ditch our last names and start a new last name. Essentially a lose/lose I guess.

5) We keep both of our last names. Which I don't like. Makes me feel like we are not connected.

I'm here to hear your thoughts, opinions, understandings.

Condense the text into a few key points
<bot>: She shouldn't have to take my surname name just because everyone else has/does. But the alternative options aren't really any better.