# Last names/Birth certificate?



## sparkswillfly

Me and my OH live together but arent married. Not sure we will ever be married to be honest. I always thought that I wanted the baby to have his last name but recently I think I have changed my mind. What happens if my some miracle we do end up married and I want the baby to have his name? 

Could I get it officially changed on the birth certificate?


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## alice&bump

i dont thnk you can have the birth cert changed, but yiou can change his/her namr by deed pole


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## Dragonfly

Apparently the dads name always goes on. But I want mine in there also, only on the birth cert though as we arnt married either. I know people who change their names without deed pole! my mate has two second names, he uses his mums maiden name and then sometimes the dads. Not sure why but he has two second names.


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## Hevz

Dragonfly said:


> Apparently the dads name always goes on. But I want mine in there also

Nope....dad's name doesn't have to go on at all. You can give baby whatever name you like. 

If you're not married, Dad also has to be at the registry office with you to put his name on the certificate. If you're married he doesn't need to be there.


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## elm

Me and my DP aren't married either, we're planning on doing it at some point when we get round to it. After lots of discussions on the subject we've decided to go double barrelled so LO will have both our surnames then when we get married we'll take each others surnames too so eventually we'll all have the same double barrelled surname.

I didn't want to change my surname unless DP was too and I didn't want LO to not have my name so this way works well for us. DPs mum said that she think that the mothers name has to come first in double barrelled names and I don't want that as it doesn't sound as nice so am going to look into that.

Re your original question I think you can change the name of your child when you do get married but not officially so, for example, your son / daughter can have it's new name on it's exercise books but not on the register and the birth certificate would stay the same. Think that's until they can change their own name at 16.

x


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## Shifter

The law is changing so that the father has to be listed on the birth certificate, but you can name the child what ever you want; your surname, the father's, double-barrelled, something else entirely! (The certificate will have both parents' names and the child's name, previously the father could be left off.)

If you do get married, and you decide that you want to change yours and the child's name you can do this very easily for pretty much all casual use. I know that you can have a different name on your passport to that on your birth certificate if you can demonstrate reasonable grounds for a change, such as a marriage certificate. The once your passport has been changed all other official use can follow. If a woman can do this for herself after marriage I see no reason why the same couldn't be done for a child.

I knew lots of people back in school whose mums remarried and the kids names changed on all school registers etc, apparently automatically. My (half) brother took my dad's name without having to jump through hoops. I think my mum had to write a letter to the passport office explaining. She did this for me too when I wanted my middle name on my passport - it isn't on my birth certificate.

Elm: When double barrelling you can put the names whichever way around you want.

I kept my name exactly as it was when I got married, including the title: Ms. The child(ren) will have my surname. My hubby doesn't like his surname much, whereas I have very strong feelings about keeping my family name running. He will probably never change his name by deed poll, but he doesn't mind if teachers etc assume he is Mr [my surname].


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## HatterasSarah

Ive always thought it was pretty standard that if you're with someone, and you two have a baby, the baby takes the dad's last name. I would do that simply because if you do get married, it would be strange if your last name, and your husbands last name were different than your child's last name. Or, you could always do double barreled. whichever!


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## Shifter

HatterasSarah said:


> Ive always thought it was pretty standard that if you're with someone, and you two have a baby, the baby takes the dad's last name. I would do that simply because if you do get married, it would be strange if your last name, and your husbands last name were different than your child's last name. Or, you could always do double barreled. whichever!

Maybe it's different in the USA, but from my experience here in the UK, it's more common for unmarried couples to give the child the mother's surname, or double barrel them.


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## beancounter

Shifter said:


> HatterasSarah said:
> 
> 
> Ive always thought it was pretty standard that if you're with someone, and you two have a baby, the baby takes the dad's last name. I would do that simply because if you do get married, it would be strange if your last name, and your husbands last name were different than your child's last name. Or, you could always do double barreled. whichever!
> 
> Maybe it's different in the USA, but from my experience here in the UK, it's more common for unmarried couples to give the child the mother's surname, or double barrel them.Click to expand...

You don't have to take your husbands name if you marry either. I know a married couple, the boy took the fathers surname and the girl the mothers. They just had 2 surnames in that household.


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## sparkswillfly

We definitely couldnt have double barreled. Poor child would be called Micklewright-Wright... or Wright-Micklewright.:rofl: I couldnt do that to him/her!


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## Vickie

Well my last name is different than Stan's and when they were filling out the birth information they asked us which name we were using, funnily enough DH turned to me and asked which name :dohh:


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## elm

Is there any possibility your DP would take your name when you got married? Just thinking that then you'd all have the same name if you did get married if that's what you want. 

Do you already have a child with your name? Just wondering if that might help make your mind up x


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## sparkswillfly

Nope first baby. I dont think he would take my name. Id like his as well. I guess Ill just have to have faith in our relationship and use his name. Hopefully I wont regret it.


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## jms895

sparkswillfy - I am using DH's name and we are not married. At the end of the day if the sh*t hits the fan and anything bad goes wrong (which I am sure it wont) your OH will always be bubba's dad so name wont matter. I am sure whatever you decide will be fine! xx


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## Shifter

jms895 said:


> sparkswillfy - I am using DH's name and we are not married. At the end of the day if the sh*t hits the fan and anything bad goes wrong (which I am sure it wont) your OH will always be bubba's dad so name wont matter. I am sure whatever you decide will be fine! xx

Maybe, depends how things turn out. The reason my hubby hates his surname is because it's his dad's. His mum never changed their surname after the divorce, for some reason, and hubby has pretty bad issues over his dad abandoning them and he is lumbered with a surname he doesn't want.

He has talked about changing it by deed poll, but it's one of those things that he will probably just not get around to.

I always intended to keep my name anyway, but as it turned out there was really no incentive to change my name to one that is widely disliked among his immediate family!


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## jms895

Oh dear Shifter thats awful!! Maybe we could make up surnames to make it easy...... like 'the conqueror' or 'the tyrant' he he.


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## Blob

I'm going to use my OH name, but thats only cos we intend to get married in a few years. If there was no plans then i would have my name and change it if we did decide to get married. I know that the law in Scotland anyway is the same as what shifter says, its pretty flexible on changing names, genrally so long as both people on the birthcertificate agree to the name change :)


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## Poloma

Me and Dp are not married and both our Lo's have my surname, next baby will too. 
Its not a problem for him as niether of us like his surname anyway! lol
IF (and thats a BIG IF) we were ever to get married I think Dp would take my surname.


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## elm

Poloma said:


> IF (and thats a BIG IF) we were ever to get married I think Dp would take my surname.

I think that's a great way of doing it!


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## Shifter

elm said:


> Poloma said:
> 
> 
> IF (and thats a BIG IF) we were ever to get married I think Dp would take my surname.
> 
> I think that's a great way of doing it!Click to expand...

Yup :happydance:


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## Beltane

I gave my first child his fathers last name and I regret it now. We didn't stay together and I much would've rather used my last name. I'm now married and when I get phone calls from the school, they assume I have my sons last name. I have to correct them everytime.


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## sparkswillfly

Beltane said:


> I gave my first child his fathers last name and I regret it now. We didn't stay together and I much would've rather used my last name. I'm now married and when I get phone calls from the school, they assume I have my sons last name. I have to correct them everytime.

Thats what I worried about. However I have my dads last name and I prefer it that way. My mum briefly changed it to her new husbands name (for school purposes) but I changed it back when I was a teenager.


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## elm

Just found this, thought you might find it interesting (I didn't know about registering marriage with the registrar of births!?). 

_If a child is born out of marriage and the parents later marry, they must inform the Registrar of Births within three months of the date of marriage. They must request that the Registrar General re-register the birth. The Registrar General may at any time authorise the re-registration of the birth. If he authorises the re-registration, the name by which the child was registered may be altered. The Registrar General will issue a certificate to allow the Registrar of Births holding the registration of the birth to amend their records._

So it doesn't seem very hard to do it legally at all. I think the problems occur if you were married to the baby father when s/he was born as then you need the fathers permission to change the babys name (think that's what I was thinking of originally).

https://www.desktoplawyer.co.uk/dt/browse/law/index.cfm?fuseaction=ViewContent&sid=75922&aid=34960


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## HatterasSarah

I guess what it comes down to is you should weight out the possibilities and figure out what is most important to you. I think regardless of whether my parents stayed together or not, I'd still like to have had my fathers last name, but thats just me. Good Luck with your decision!


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## gemalems

I've been with my now husband for 10 years and we only got married after i'd had my first 3. My eldest has my maiden name and the other 3 have a double barraled name. My thought has always been that i gave birth and carried them so they will all have my name in there. 
As my eldest son just has mine we could've changed it by deed poll but it makes him special as he's the last carrying the family name on.

Hope that makes sense lol


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## Logiebear

I have personal experience of this. If you give your child your surname and then get married as long as the father is on the birth certificate you get forms from the registras office and simply re-register the childs name in their fathers name. I have just it with my sons. They had my maiden name and now have their fathers name on the BC as I changed it. That is the correct information as of June 2008 hun xxx


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