Two Qs re Child Support and Naming the child of an unmarried woman

[LSLGuy]

Some sections of this 2-month old thread touch on issues of baby names vs actual or false fathers named on certificates with or without their knowledge or approval. And the child support implications for the man named on the certificate.

Why do single mothers give kids their absent fathers' last names?

My wife’s niece recently had a baby girl. She and the baby live with her mother; the father lives somewhere else locally. They’re not married or engaged, and from what I understand have had an on-again/off-again thing for years. He’s sporadically employed and no one is expecting him to be much of a father or provider. And yet, she gave her daughter the father’s last name, not hers. Why? Does she hold out hope that they’ll be a conventional family someday? Is she following some patriarchal par…