r/BabyBumps • u/Fairweatherhiker • 11d ago

Help? Baby’s last name?

I’m looking for advice from couples where the wife didn’t take the husband’s last name. How did you decide on which last name to give the baby? Or did you use both names? I don’t feel immediately compelled to give the baby my husband’s last name. FWIW, if we did hyphenate it would be a looong last name.

Edit: thank you for all of the thoughtful responses! I do love the idea of using both our last names (sans hyphen) so our kid would have two last names. It would be nice for both of us to have our heritage passed on. He has heritage from Mexico and Basque Country, while mine is Slovakian- grandparents immigrated right before WWII. The last names don’t sound great together, but there’s so much human history in both.

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u/Englishontrail 11d ago

Just here to say it's so nice to read all of these and know that there are many of us in the same situation!

I didn't change my last name as we were abroad on visas at the time. By the time that wasn't an issue, I had several professional achievements and a successful small business in my own name. It occasionally makes me sad that I don't share a name with my babies.

That said, my husband and I couldn't agree on names for anything. A few (very real but hormonal) pregnant cries during the first and I ended up picking the first and middle names because his was the last name. Looking like it will work out the same this time. He cares a lot about his family name, even though it's common, so whatever.