A registry provides the bride with a trousseau, or the things that she and her husband will probably need during their first year of marriage. The word trousseau is a throwback to a time when brides brought their possessions with them into their new home. In time, the standard dowry eclipsed what one could carry in a small bundle, but the name stuck just the same. The days of dowries may be waning, but the need for a new bride to begin her marriage with a “hope chest” has not.