Actress Jada Pinkett Smith was worried how her fans would react when she took actor-husband Will Smith's last name.

The `Madagascar` actress, who has daughter Willow, 13, and son Jaden, 16, with her husband of 17 years, feared she would be criticised for failing to be an ''independent woman'' by sticking to tradition and changing her name after they tied the knot in 1997, reports contactmusic.com.

In a new blog post on her Facebook page, she wrote: ''The dilemma you face whether to change your last name to your husband's is a timely one.

`I have always believed that an empowered woman is one that can stand on her own two feet and has the strength to trust her personal code of womanhood and not necessarily the code that a collective creates as the standard to which an independent woman must adhere to, to actually be identified as...independent,` she further posted.

She eventually decided to add Smith to her original moniker, Jada Pinkett.