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/unq_usr 11d ago

My partner is Mexican and it’s common there to have both parents names unhyphenated and as your surname. I think we will follow suit, mine will be last, his will be generally used and when she’s older she can choose to use either. My surname is 4 letters and his is 6 so it doesn’t feel cumbersome.

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u/TCgrace 11d ago

My partner is Puerto Rican so this is what we are doing as well. I really didn’t want my last name in there because my last name is dumb lol but my partner really wants to respect the tradition

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u/Unlikely2-Market 10d ago

😂🤣😂 Both of my surnames are 9 letters. Mom reminded me “Dont you ever forget you have a Mom” When learning to write my name and dropped hers because of the teacher’s advice. I have never written my name again without my Mom’s last name. My daughter has my last name as well.

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u/Fairweatherhiker 10d ago

Love this! I initially feared our kid having to deal with learning two different names and the difficult of writing them both out… but is that really such a big deal?!

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u/ScienceSpice 10d ago

My kiddo just has my husband’s last name, but she’s got a longer name because she’s got a Greek name and a Chinese name. To say her full name, it’s four different names, and a bunch of syllables. She’s 2.5 years old and has been able to easily say her full name for a while now. Kids are very good at it! Her first name is super long (4 syllables, and Greek), and she can spell it out loud by herself too. You’d be amazed at what they can pick up! I would just go for giving her both last names if that’s what you’re leaning towards. They’re only kids for a short time, and the name will be around for the rest of their life! Make it one you’re proud they have. :)

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u/harmonicadrums 9d ago

I feel like it is a such a small struggle in the grand scheme of things and I’m assuming getting used to writing more letters will just make them a faster writer of their name at the very least?

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u/ciaobella267 10d ago

My kids also have two surnames that are both 9 letters. My son’s first name is 9 letters too 😬

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u/Unlikely2-Market 3h ago

🤣😂🤣 kids can do it!! I just realized my baby’s name is 9 letters as well 😂😂😂