Do you legally have to give a child a surname?

Question

Can you name your child "Bob" - no middle or last name, or is a last name a legal requirement? If you have to give the child a last name can you make up a new one if you don't like yours?
If a person can change their name to anything they like later in life or to just 1 name (Cher, Maddonna) then can you also start out life that way?

Answer 1

In the United States you must have two names. Even Cher has two names, they just don't tell us peons about it. I am not sure about the name change thing. I know that my grandparents changed their last name, and then all the children that were born got that last name, so I am thinking you would have to change your last name first and then your children could ge that last name. Personally, I have a strange name (Venus) and would be very hard on a child if you put on them ONE name. Names are hard to live up to sometimes...or impossible. That should be their choice when they get older. Give them three options in their name and then they can do whatever they will.

Answer 2

I dont know..... Remember how Prince changed his name to a symbol... Maybe you have to have a lot of money to prove the validity of the method of naming convention, but it seems you should be able to name your child whatever you wanted. I think the birth certificate needs to tie the child to a parent, but I dont see why you couldnt give the kid some made up name on the certificate. It would still have the parents information on it to link the child to its guardians.

Answer 3

Hmm I don't know what the law is in your country, but in Indonesia there is no obligation to have a surname. I know more than a handful of Indonesians with single names. Our ex president, Sukarno, is one of them... that's his only name, no middle name, no surname.

Trivia about Indonesians:
-The Javanese and Sundanese don't have surnames... if people do have multiple names, they're usually ALL given names.
-Betawis (native of Jakarta area), Makassar (South Sulawesi), and Madurese (people from Madura island, just northeast of Java) have PATRONYMS (e.g. Yusuf bin Ali... Joseph son of Ali)
-Tribes who have surnames like in the west include Batak (North Sumatra, just below Aceh), Manado (North Sulawesi, just below the Philippines), Toraja (South Sulawesi), and Papuan.
-There is also a tribe called Minang from West Sumatra... it's known to be a tribe of strong Muslims but they have dominant female culture and their surnames are MATERNAL. Rare case!

However, people from all these tribes can all be legally recorded as people with single names only. I had a Papuan friend whose parents forgot to tell the birth certificate officer to note down her surname, so although she is socially known as "Marlina Imbiri", she is legally only "Marlina"

Answer 4

Once he is as famous as Cher and Madonna, we will all refer to him as "The Bob".
But for now, big brother needs to be able to find him in a big sea of Bobs.

Answer 5

Its your child, do what you want.

Answer 6

hmmmm good question....
my new name is now
CHEEDERHEAD!

Answer 7

no