do adopted children keep their birth surname?

Question

thanks for the answers, i understand thats its probably not common, but is it legal. my cousin is adopted but has a different last name (adopted)

wow i messed up typing that completely but its not really relevant anyways. just curious if thats like legal and done sometimes (aka if child wants to keep it for some reason)

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible. What's not being distinguished is infant adoptions through an agency versus a child placed with family or friends whether through death or private arrangement. When an infant is given up and the parents voluntarily sever all of their parental rights, their identities are sealed and the baby will never know his/her parents' names.

By contrast, there are any number of children who lose their parents or are taken away from negligent parents and are placed with family or friends...or someone through a foster care agency...and those children are old enough to know their names. When they are adopted, it is permissable for them to keep their family name. This is particularly true when the birth parents died and the child has strong ties to their biological family throughout this time.

Answer 2

No. They are now grafted in to a new family with a name that will identify them as part of that family. The would probably keep the first name if the child was old enough to know it, but not the last name. I think.

Answer 3

No, they take the name of their adoptive parents (unless it's an open adoption and there's some kind of agreement with the birth parent).

Answer 4

No - upon adoption they get the surname of the
adopter(s).

Answer 5

They can, but usually don't.