Baby surname question

[Hulahoopqueen]

Hypothetical situation - an unmarried couple have a baby, the baby gets given the mother’s surname.

Say the couple get married after the child is born - can the mother and baby both take the father’s surname? Is there a date after which you can’t change a baby’s name?

This is purely hypothetical, am married with a DS, just curious as to how the system works in this situation!

I believe the parents can sign a Deed changing the child's surname. It happened for me when I was a young child, and I don't think the laws have changed.

Just to add, I would go with mother's surname until you married. I know so many who thought they would marry, then didn't and then had drama with a child with a different surname. Travel etc.

You can change any name by deed poll - costs about £30 and is very straightforward. DH and I both changed our names when we got married and it was easy to do.

Thank you for your replies, very interesting :)

I believe that you can change name up to a year after the birth without the need for a Deed Poll. After that you can change it by deed poll.

I have a different surname to my dc, and no plans to marry do, and have traveled solo with them many times and never had a problem, so I'm not really sure that is such a huge issue.

If you get married or become civil partners after your baby is born, you need to re-register the child's birth at the register office. At this point it's easy to change the child's surname to a new shared family surname. There's no time limit for doing this but if the 'child' is over 16 years and you want to change their surname, they need to agree.