What is the standard protocol for this? I have known people with either surname, sometimes both simultaneously hyphenated. Ultimately, is it left to the discretion of the mother? What if the parents are not on friendly terms but both want the child to bear only their name?
I have a friend who fathered a son out of wedlock,(ever notice how much that resembles headlock?), he and the mother had co-habitated for some years. He signed a paper at the hospital that he was the father and the boy has his name. But if there is no S.O. (signifigant other), the child will have the mothers name.
IANAL etc. There may be in various states different statutes which determine how the issue of non-married parents may be named, but I’m not familiar with them. My understanding is that the parents can give the child whatever name they want on the birth certificate and as long as it’s not being done in an attempt to commit an illegal act (i.e. naming your kid “Bill Gates Jr” in an attempt to commit extortion) there’s nothing to be said and that becomes the child’s legal name. If the parents aren’t on good terms, it’s likely that the mother, being present at the moment of birth, will get her way on how the birth certificate reads. The father dould always petition for a name change on behalf of the child along with petitioning for other legal stuff (enforcement of parental rights and the like).
Otto has it right. First one to the birth certificate wins.
The biological father does not necessarily have to be named on the birth certificate. I dated a girl who had a son out of wedlock. The father basically said “You’re what?” when she told him she was pregnant. He left her to have the baby on her own, which she did, and named the baby with her surname. On the birth certificate, she listed the father as “unknown.” She realized that it made her look like a slut, but she felt that if he wanted nothing to do with the baby before he was born, he would not be granted paternal rights after he was born. Three years later, he finally acknowledged the boy, but was forced to pay for a blood test to verify his paternity, as well as pay past due child support before she would allow him to see his son. This all put a bit of a strain on our relationship, and it ended soon afterwards during custody hearings. We have not kept in touch, and I don’t know what the outcome was.
Bastard?
I doubt very much that there are any such statutes.
And in the case of same-sex parents, some states are allowing each parent’s name to be listed on the birth certificate as “parent 1” and “parent 2” rather than “mother” and “father.” There was just a case in, I want to say Alabama (but it may have been some other Southern state) where an appellate court after several years allowed a lesbian couple to get a birth certificate listing them both as parents. The child had been subjected to great difficulty in doing such things as registering for school because there was no birth certificate issued for him.
Which would be why I said there “may” be. There also “may not” be. Sheesh.
When I was born to unwed parents (biofather wasn’t in the picture by then) I actually got the surname of my mother’s first husband, who is not my father. Kooky, huh? She had legally changed her surname to his and when they got divorced didn’t change it back.
I don’t think a “sheesh” is called for. Your “may be” implied that it is to be expected that such statutes exist in various states. In the absence of any cites, I think it’s quite valid for me to state that I doubt very much that you’ll find any such statutes in state codes. Unlike in Europe, American legislatures are not in the habit of telling people what they may name their children.
You can name your child anything you want. It doesn’t have to be either of the parents’ last name.
I didn’t marry the ex, and our son’s last name is “Smith-Jones”. We created a new name from a combination of our names.
I could have named him Moonwalker if I felt like it.
In Ontario, neither of the parents is named on the birth certificates. Just the child’s name, date & place of birth.
As Kalhoun says, there’s nothing stopping us from naming our child whatever we want. Even though we were not married when they were born, my kids have their father’s last name for the simple reason that their father wanted it, and I had nothing against granting it.
Well, when my daughter was born, they put my last name on her birth certificate instead of her father’s, which is the name that I put on the form! His name was listed on the birth certificate as her father, but “they” (I don’t know if it was the hospital or the state of Minnesota) decided that since we weren’t married, she had to have my last name instead of his, because when the birth certificate came, it had my name as her last name. This was not ages and ages ago…it was 1996! This seems so much out of the Stone Age, I’m kind of surprised they didn’t tell me she was dead and then sneak her away to be adopted.
We did get married about two months after she was born. Shortly after that, I inquired as to how we could get her birth certificate corrected. They told me that since we were now married, we could fill out a “legitimization” certificate, sign it in front of a notary public, pay $30, and boom! she has the name we always intended her to have! Her new birth certificate has my married name on it :rolleyes:. Her original birth certificate has been “sealed” by the state like it’s some sort of deep dark secret. But, gee, she’s she’s not a “bastard”, she’s suddenly “legitimate” now. Whoopdedoo!
I can only imagine that some sort of bureaucratic mess or court battle would have ensued had we not been married and tried to correct her birth certificate–and we as parents agreed on what her name should be!
I’d be surprised. A name change petition is usually a relatively simple process.
Uh, no, it stated that there could exist in one or more states statutes which govern how the issue of unmarried parents are named. I don’t know that there are; I don’t know that there aren’t. Any inference you draw is your own, unsupported by any implication (un)made by me.
But if it makes you happy, I shall formally withdraw the word “may” and amend the statement to “there might be.” Is that better, or do you want to worry about it for no reason some more?
I’ve know many children of unwed parents. Each one of them has a different reason for having the last name they have. I’ve seen mother’s names, father’s names, mother’s maidens names, current paternal gaurdian’s name, and names that seem to be completly made up. I’ve also seen situations where sibling have many different last names, even if they share a father. For example, one member of a family I know has her mother’s name. But when her mother had a son, he wanted him to carry on his name, so he has his name.
I’ve got TWO birth certificates; one with my name before I was adopted, one with my name after I was adopted a few months later.
My last name on the first birth certificate is that of my birth mother.
She went on to have a few more kids with the man that was my birth father. They have his last name.
My daughter was born several months before my wife and I married. While my soon-to-be-wife was recovering in the hospital, the clerk came to her room and gave us a form to fill out so that the birth certificate could be generated. We asked whether the child’s last name would be the mother’s or the father’s and we were told that it was entirely up to us.
Incidentally, the birth certificate as we received it was designed in such a way that the mother would always be listed by her maiden name, even if she was married. Nowhere on the certificate is there any indication as to whether the listed parents were married to one another or not.
I’m happy to let this go, because my point was made, but I don’t understand the need for either the initial or continuing snark on your part, Otto. You made a statement to the effect that these statutes may exist. It’s true that “may be” in absolutely scientific terms states no more than a possibility, but in a discussion about legal principles, it’s likely that to someone who knows little about American law in this area, such a statement would to suggest that such statutes may very well exist. I’m pointing out that it is unlikely that you will find them and I don’t think that this observation is worthy of your repeated acts of sarcasm, dude.