Would this be just too odd?

[barkingcough]

DP and I are considering giving our new baby a totally different surname to either of us. It's not a random name but my mother's maiden name which is lovely and goes with everything. The reason we are considering this is that DP has a hard to spell/ pronounce name and mine is a word and does not go well with many of our favourite names (or many names at all come to that) - making phrases when put together.

What do you think? Is it too unusual? Has anyone else used a name for their baby that is neither yours or your DPs?

If we went ahead, would it be a good idea for me at least to add my mother's maiden name to my name just to avoid any problems?

If you were going to do it, add it into your name somewhere too. Or change your surname completely. Many people do this after getting married (choose a new surname for themselves) but I haven't heard of this yet. If it were me, I'd change my surname so that we all had the same name.

I would worry that the baby wouldn't feel part of the family if they had a different surname.

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I'd probably add my mother's maiden name as another middle name or even double barrell it with my surname.

Does anyone else have any thoughts? This is now causing me sleepless nights!

Why don't you and DP just change your surnames to your mum's maiden name by deed poll, then when baby is born you can just register him/her with the new family surname. Since neither of you seem that attached to your existing names it wouldn't be a big deal, would it?

I agree with moonhare - that's exactly what we did: changed both our names to my mums maiden name by deedpoll so when dd came along, she had that name too.

I also agree with what MoonHare said.

MoonHare

My parents changed their surname by deed poll too so when I was born I had the same surname as them. They came up with a completley different surname though, not in the family at all. But although it was a random name it's the only name I knew and at least all my immediate family had it.
But in answer to your question, yes i think it would be very odd if you all had different surnames.
Moonhare is spot on.

What MoonHare said.

If you all have different surnames, there will be practical issues like the immigration police will have reasons for questioning you to ensure you are not kidnapping your own child when you travel abroad.

There are plenty of families where different members of the family including some or all of the children have different names. For example, children have their fathers surname, parents have split up and mum uses her maiden name and her new partner has his own surname. Other cultures have all sorts of traditions about surnames which result in differing names for different family members and it doesn't seem to cause them any problems. For all these reasons I know several families where no one has the same surname so if that's what you want to do I think it's fine.