Whose last name should the baby have if I'm not married to my partner?

Are you going to mary him or stay w/ him? If you aren't I grew up w/ a friend where each of his sibblings had diffrent last names. People judged his mother harshly and he was teased terribly. There is a reason it is called a family name.

when i had my son i gave him my bf's (his dad) last name. i wish i hadn't. if i could go back i would give him both of our last names... after all, he's not just his child.

(I like your screen name) I was in the same situation. I gave our daughter his last name. Part of that was because I hate my last name and its difficult to pronounce for most people and his was easy. If you plan on getting married I would just give the baby his last name. If you never plan on getting married .....Toss a coin lol. You have to realize though that if you do not put his last name for the baby it will be easier for him to back out if he decides he doesnt want to be a dad. (At least this is the case in Colorado) I would make sure you're not going to be screwed over if he leaves. If giving the baby his last name will make him just a little more proud of his bundle of joy...make him happy and just do it:) (I would never think twice about giving my kids my last name lol)

What about hyphenating (his name then yours), that way if you don't stay together, the baby will still have your last name but will also have his/her's father's identity. And if you do get married, you can always drop the hypen at a later time.

My son has my name, but I did not plan on staying with my ex and is also not named on the birth certificate. My friend's girl has her husband's last name, but they got married a few years after she was born. It's really up to you. You could give him 2 last names as his legal name, but if something happens and you 2 are no longer together, the baby could go by just your last name with both as his legal name. Or if you stay together, or even get married later on, you by SO's last name but have both as his legal name.

I am in the same situation. My partner and I are unmarried, don't plan on getting married and we're both okay with that. Our son has his last name and I'm fine with that. It's all about carrying on the line. (his first son carrying his name and whatnot). Do what feels right, but don't get caught up in something that's not at issue.

Good luck!

I would go with your last name, if you don't plan to marry him. And if you do get married you can change it later. I look at it like this...when and if you have another child- everyone will have different last names. I would give the baby my last name. It shouldn't make it harder to get child support. Pretend like you are getting ready to fill out lots of info. about your child...medical records, school registration and so on. And you are filling in your name, the dads name and your baby's...what last name do you feel most comfortable writing next to his name? Its your decision...I just wouldn't want all my children to have different last names...if you guys don't marry or if you decide to have more children. Hard one!

I gave my second son - when I was unmarried his father's last name. When the relationship dissolved that was one thing I did not have to prove in court - he had accepted paternity by giving him his last name.

I think if you guys are planning on having a family together, or you guys have talked about getting married one day, or he is going to be a very involved father then the baby should get his name. If you are going to be single mom and you doubt there is a future with this man, and maybe you think he might not be very invoved in the childs life later down the road then you should def give the baby your name, in the future if you have kids with someone else then you will want them all to have the same last name. I think you should just think hard about the choice, it is YOUR choice though. Good Luck with your pregnancy and delivery.

I gave my son my bfs last name. So that he would know, and his family would know that That is his son. I also thought we would get married, but im still waiting for that day. I would say give you baby his last name, unless you plan to have other children by other men.