senzenwomen | (Reply)

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That is a good question! I had to look it up and I still don't really know. In general there was a LOT of name-changing around the Meiji Restoration, partly because that's when family name + personal name became compulsory (until then commoners weren't allowed official family names). Also, some sources tell me that certain (men's) names taken from old official positions were temporarily forbidden in the early Meiji period (keeping commoners from using them?). (Miwako's second husband changed his name from Odamura Inosuke to Katori Motohiko, and this may be partly why he changed his first name, -suke being one of the forbidden ones, but then again maybe not?)
Adding -ko to your name was a bit of a modern fashion for women a little way into the Meiji period (see also Tsuda Ume(ko), when I get to her), but I can't find a whole lot of information about women changing their names. My impression in general is that, because record-keeping was not yet totally standardized, it was done more often and more easily; also that, because social class, position, etc., were hugely in flux, people, women included, changed their names to put a period to their former lives and/or announce their stance on their new ones (Kido Matsuko changed her name from Ikumatsu when she became a politician's wife instead of a geisha, and the Meiji Empress changed her name when she married the emperor, for a couple of obvious examples).
That was a lot of words to say not very much, sorry. (I'm always fascinated with names and the way they reflect languages and eras...).