Hi, as a bit of background, I'm a Dad who is not with my daughter's mum. I've seen my daughter pretty much every weekend since the day she was born. She is now 4.5 and we have an amazing relationship. She loves my parents/family and is a massive part of my life. I get on well with her mother and we both work hard to ensure that whatever our disagreements, our daughter is never caught in the middle. My daughter currently has a double-barrel surname reflecting the two families which she is connected to. (I pay regular maintenance, save for her independently and have parental responsibility.)
Now her mother has remarried and wants to change my daughter's surname to her husbands. Her view is that it makes everything more simple if/when they have children and avoids any kind of stigma attached with being 'different'.
Does anyone have experience with changing surnames and the effect it has on the child's identity?