] It seems that the important thing was to keep the Family name living. And if a couple was childless, they just tried to find someone suitable to inherit. Preferably a relation but not necessary. But he needed to change his name.

In addition to that it was not until he inherited the estate that he changed his name.

Fanny Knight reveals in her diary a distaste for changing her name from Austen to Knight. LaFaye's account doesn't say why. Probably just that it was her name for so many years. Maybe she just didn't like change. Or perhaps she was saddened to be cut off from her Austen side that way.