Hmm, I think there are sometimes good cases for changing a child's surname. I agree though that there have to be strong reasons.
I applied to the family court to change ds's surname and the judge agreed in under five minutes flat.
I think and hope, that if the Court felt it would have been wrong to do so, the judge would not have granted my application.
As for getting angry, yes I do get very angry sometimes. I felt I was being patronised when told that 'a woman has a choice not to take her husband's surname...nobody held a gun to your head'.
As I said, I do know that a woman doesn't have to take his name. But when you are in love and marrying the man, few women decide not to. It is very traditional after all - much like many other aspects of weddings and the marriage rite. Nothing wrong with tradition. But in the case of taking a man's name, it still seems extremely old fashioned and I wish it wasn't the 'norm' still. It's as though the woman is his 'chattel' and 'belongs' to him etc.
If the marriage breaks down it is the woman who faces the mountain of legal and paperwork to change her name back. And on top of that, I still get called Mrs and I am constantly correcting people. A man just does not have these problems. He can walk away with his identity still wholly in tact. He remains Mr and his surname is still his domain name.
That is all.
Again, many good wishes to you. xxxx