changing last name to mother's instead of father's

ut0pia

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Does anyone have experience with this? My boyfriend who has never seen his father in his life as long as he can remember, wants to adopt his mother's last name, but he doesn't know what to do about it. Someone told him it's impossible and it will cause a lot of trouble for him so he is discouraged and isn't even willing to find out whether that's true or not
So that's why i'm trying to find out if that person is right and let him know the truth...Anyone know anything?
 

fwan

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I would call up birth deaths and marriages department and ask. It is possible.
As my parents werent married when i was born i had my mothers surname, sure it was a hassle and not even a year later i had my fathers surname. It just costs a lot and depending in which country it is possible


Good luck
 

missymotus

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You should be able to change it via deed poll to anything you want.

My sister changed hers to combine their surnames together, making a new unique name for their family. Filled out a form, paid a fee - very easy.
 

twstychik

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With the right forms and fees it should be a pretty straight forward process. I had a friend who had his mothers name, never met his father and so when he married, he took his wife's last name instead of the other way round.
 

alleygirl

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He will have to pay a fee and have it legally changed by the court, but I don't think its a big deal. The biggest hassle is changing your social security card, etc. so be sure to have him get several certified copies of his new birth certificate. He does have to be 18 to do this.
 

cata_mint

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Maybe its because I'm a...
I have my mother's surname, just because it sounds better with my first name than my dad's does.
Its a Chinese name, and occasionally a Chinese person will ask me if I have a Chinese father, and then tell me I have "the wrong surname" when I explain.

I thought you could change your name to whatever you wanted, as long as you paid the fee, like Phoebe in Friends.
 
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ut0pia

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Thanks everyone. That doesn't sound too hard. He is 20 now but he has been talking about doing this for a long time. He is now wondering whether he should do it now while he is still in college or after he graduates...
 

yosemite

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I certainly don't know about other countries, but in Canada at least you can change your name to whatever you want to as long as you are not doing it for illegal purposes.

There is a fee but not a huge one so it's relatively easy to do.
 

twstychik

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Originally Posted by ut0pia

Thanks everyone. That doesn't sound too hard. He is 20 now but he has been talking about doing this for a long time. He is now wondering whether he should do it now while he is still in college or after he graduates...
I would do it now. Yes, it will be a hassle to update all his information to reflect his new name but he'll have to do that anyway and if he changes it now his diploma will show his new name instead of his old.
 
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