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Which parents last name does a kid take?

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You can do the Icelandic thing.

If it's a boy the last name is {Your First Name}son.
If it's a girl the last name is {Your Wife's First Name}dottir.
 
jstripes said:
You can do the Icelandic thing.

If it's a boy the last name is {Your First Name}son.
If it's a girl the last name is {Your Wife's First Name}dottir.
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I've always kind of liked that.

triplestation said:
It'd be better to make the tradition of having the fathers last name a concrete standard
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Why? This isn't a case where the option of choice is overwhelming or burdensome. It's probably way easier than deciding on a godparent for your kid or something.
 
Since historically men used to have all the power financially, all assets were linked to his name legally, etc, it makes sense that the child used to take the father's name.

But now it doesn't make sense at all and I think it's up to the couple, much like the last name.

I do think families should share a last name however they come upon it, though that again is up to the family.
 
I think children should get a mandatory, temporary hyphenated last name of the biological parents until they reach majority at which point they can elect to change both first and last to whatever they want. So Joe Johnson-Smith until 18, then Kale Turok Breckin or what have you.
 
jstripes said:
You can do the Icelandic thing.

If it's a boy the last name is {Your First Name}son.
If it's a girl the last name is {Your Wife's First Name}dottir.
Click to expand...

That's pretty neat, actually.

So, John Doe + Jane Smith = Jack Johnson or Jill Janedottir? Seems pretty straightforward.
 
braves01 said:
I think children should get a mandatory, temporary hyphenated last name of the biological parents until they reach majority at which point they can elect to change both first and last to whatever they want. So Joe Johnson-Smith until 18, then Kale Turok Breckin or what have you.
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Yes. Everyone get's one name change on the house.
 
Alric said:
Not always

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Their father's real last name is Estevez.... Roman (Martin Sheen) Estevez.

Also, most people use the man's last name or hyphenate it. I've only ever seen people take the mother's last name if there is no father or their parents split up and they decide to change it.
 
My wife hasn't even taken my last name but that's because she hasn't gotten around to going to the SS office, or maybe that's just her excuse...whatever.
 
shadyspace said:
You have any numbers on that? Of course it's not as unusual as it was in the past but I'd assume that the overwhelming amount of women take their groom's name still.
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I can't find you anything official, especially if we are talking about people changing their name legally (and not just unofficially). Various studies using wedding announcements and facebook suggest that it is somewhere between 1 in 6 and 1 in 3 women who keep their maiden name. So ya, the large majority change their name, but no it's not all that uncommon to keep it.


As an aside, In Quebec women can't legally change their names to their husband's name without the government's special permission. The government there decided that it promoted gender inequality.
 
When my parents moved here, my dad changed his last name and apparently due to hispanic culture the two parents combine parts of their last names into one name for the child which is why you see the hyphen.

It's a bummer really, cause my dad picked one of the most generic last names. So when I first started school as a kid my parents simply didn't include my mom's part of the name for whatever reason.

Imagine being 1 of 15 (probably more) kids with the same last name -_-

heck now I'll probably just drop his part of the name for the old one, that one sounds cooler anyway :P
 
It should be whatever surname the mother is using at the time. I might have a different opinion if parental abandonment wasn't so skewed against men.
 
braves01 said:
I think children should get a mandatory, temporary hyphenated last name of the biological parents until they reach majority at which point they can elect to change both first and last to whatever they want. So Joe Johnson-Smith until 18, then Kale Turok Breckin or what have you.
Click to expand...

I could agree with this in concept... but in reality letting 18 year olds change their name to whatever they want sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Letting them remove the hyphenation and pick one last name or the other would make a lot of sense though.
 
Most people I know have their mother's name if unmarried and their father's if married. That's my own situation for example.
 
shadyspace said:
You have any numbers on that? Of course it's not as unusual as it was in the past but I'd assume that the overwhelming amount of women take their groom's name still.
Click to expand...

I'm also curious about this. Not that I'd ever dissuade her, but my girlfriend has always said she'd keep her name if we ever got married - which is fair enough because her name is gorgeous.
 
I think it is commonly the father's last name if married, the mother's if not. At least that's the way in Mexico, although here we use a Name(s) + Father's Last Name + Mother's Last Name formula. If a woman with a child is not married, it's not uncommon for the kid to take both surnames from the mother, so if you didn't know enough, one may think they are brother and sister because of the naming conventions in this country.

I myself have 2 names and both my father's and mother's surnames.
 
How is this a question? I mean I could understand if it's a same sex issue, which is something I suppose those involved with discuss, but...otherwise what others have mentioned: Mom's name if not married, Father's name if married. At least that's the American way.
 
I've never once met a married couple where the child took the wife's name. Plenty of children of single moms who have done so however. In America, for reference.
 
Make one of the surnames a cognomen.

If it is a boy have it be ({Given Name}{Mother's Name}{Father's Name}) and reverse it for a girl. You can also have a middle name too.
 
I've heard of people combining their last names and giving the portmanteau'd last name to the child in some situations, so that's one option. But the way I see it, if the mother's raising the child herself, (s)he should probably have the mother's last name. If both parents are raising the child together, whether or not they're married, it should be decided upon by the two parents after talking it out.

It shouldn't be hyphenated, in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with doing so conceptually, but it almost guarantees that the child's surname is a mouthful.
 
If both partners can't come to a final agreement, it is by law that GAF will decide the child's new last name.

I know, it's weird - I didn't enforce this law. But sooner or later little Kale Bumtwat Junior will appreciate the hard work that we do.
 
Depends on who's raising the child. If both parents are active in the child's life then I like the combined idea personally. I have my dad's last name, but I haven't spoken to him in years and have never had a relationship with him. Me having his last name has always been weird and I'm just now changing it back
 
shadyspace said:
The woman's if they're unmarried, the man's if they're married.
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This is actually kind of funny.

I was a teen pregnancy and my dad wasn't in the picture much when I was a baby, so initially I had my mom's last name. Then when they got married, my last name was legally changed to my dad's last name.
 
I kept my last name, when my husband and I got married (which is pretty common in my profession). My husband and I have talked about having a child and, so far, he's adamant that he wants our future child to take my last name, out of fear of racism (he has a traditional Mexican last name, while I have an old Scottish last name).

I definitely want any future child to have a connection to my family lineage (since I've always thought it was bullshit that the mother's family line gets erased from the child's identity), but we'll see. Despite all that and despite loving my name, I think I'd push for my husband's last name, because I think it's sad if fear of racism is what pushes him towards picking mine. I'd want my last name as a middle name, though.
 
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