Just had a discussion with a friend about deciding which last name to record on a birth certificate. Now, I always assumed that if the parents had different last names, the mother could put either last name on the birth certificate. True.

Then my friend said, "You can put any last name you want. It doesn't have to be either the mother's or father's last name." Well. I told her I didn't think that could be true.

I looked at our state dept. of health website, and this is what I found:
CHILD’S NAME: The mother has the legal responsibility for naming the child. It may be any name you choose. You can easily change the child’s first or middle name during the first six months. The baby’s last name does not have to match the name of either the mother or father. Once the birth certificate has been filed, changing the child’s last name will require an order from the Probate Court.

Why in the world would somebody want to give a child a last name that wasn't either his/her mother's or father's last name? If I read the regulation right, you could do that. Has anybody heard of that actually happening?

DH used to date a girl with the last name of Butt. If you were tortured all thru school with a bad last name, then I would not want to label a child with it. My last name is spelled exactly like a girls first name. My brothers took quite a razzing over that name, and both said if they had the choice, they would pick a new last name for their kids. Neither had any.


now if you have a regular or tame name, perhaps you could honor a long lost relative or pick something that you believe would give this child some advantages in life. Exhusband was quite upset that I refused to name my son after him. He had an awful name, and it was not something I was going to saddle DS with.

Sometimes the parents have some unpronouncable foreign name so they shorten or "anglicize" the name for their children. Example: Sythmylicrynliniczcrin may get changed to simply "Smith."

Well, now it's starting to make sense to me. I'm so traditional that it's hard to see outside the box sometimes.

I never knew that a mother had the option to choose a last name for her child. I wonder why the hospitals don't tell you that when you have a baby? I wouldn't have opted to name my child something different but it's interesting that it's an option.

I went to school with a girl whose last name was Crabtree. I remember thinking that I would have hated to have had that last name.

I wonder if it's too late to change my last name? I like "Vanderbilt". Sounds rich!

I went to school with a family of 4 girls.
Their last name was Kuntz (pronounced Koontz)

They were teased unmercifully all their high school years.
Every one of them changed their names after they graduated.

Nuff said.

When I first read this I thought it sounded like an insane thing to do. But know that I've read some of the last names mentioned here I've totally changed my mind.

I've passed this topic along to a couple of friends who came up with other examples:

One woman's daughter was married, so both were, let's say "Jones". But the marriage was on it's last legs when the baby was due, so her daughter refused to put "Jones" on the bc, and instead put her own maiden name, which she used again after the divorce a few months later.

Another couple had a locally infamous last name and just plain didn't want the kid saddled with unfair assumptions...Oh, he's a JONES??

(No offense to any Joneses out there!!)