Interestingly (well, that's what I call it because otherwise I get mad), neither the children having different surnames nor them having hyphenated surnames is allowed in my country :-/
That is the kind of thing that makes me go wow. We have to *record* the child's name with the state, but up to us what the name *is*.
It's social pressure / cultural assumptions that go on ... while it was my mother's generation who really pushed women keeping their own name on marriage, most women still seem to change their name but enough don't that it's not unusual. Even my changing-name-back-without-divorce has mostly got a bit of puzzlement rather than "that's not allowed".
Just in case that wasn't clear, it's okay to pick either the mother's or the father's name - you just can't use one for one child and another for the next. Generally, Germany has capital-R Rules for names, including first names.
Most women still change theirs over here, too. I didn't. I don't get many comments on that, at least...
(forgive me for being nosy, if this topic annoys you too much, feel free to ignore)
How does that work for half-siblings or blended families? Does a remarriage "reset" the surname issue? For that matter, what about children whose parents aren't and don't get married?
Basically, when you get married, you choose a "family name", which can be either partner's surname. The other spouse doesn't have to take it, but that's the name any children born from that marriage get. (It's allowed to defer this decision until the first child is born, which is what my husband and I did).
So it's clear what surname kids will get at birth for married couples For unmarried couples, it's a bit more complicated - it is possible to choose the father's name, though. I have no idea what happens if you then later get married and choose the other name as the family name. I'm sure there's some law for that as well, probably just telling you that you can't...
As for divorce/remarriage, children just keep their names. The surnames can be changed, but don't have to - my husband doesn't share his name with his mother/stepfather/half-sisters he grew up with, because he didn't want to change it.
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jack
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Date: 2016-03-06 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-06 09:12 pm (UTC)It's social pressure / cultural assumptions that go on ... while it was my mother's generation who really pushed women keeping their own name on marriage, most women still seem to change their name but enough don't that it's not unusual. Even my changing-name-back-without-divorce has mostly got a bit of puzzlement rather than "that's not allowed".
no subject
Date: 2016-03-06 10:03 pm (UTC)Most women still change theirs over here, too. I didn't. I don't get many comments on that, at least...
no subject
Date: 2016-03-06 10:16 pm (UTC)How does that work for half-siblings or blended families? Does a remarriage "reset" the surname issue? For that matter, what about children whose parents aren't and don't get married?
no subject
Date: 2016-03-06 10:38 pm (UTC)So it's clear what surname kids will get at birth for married couples For unmarried couples, it's a bit more complicated - it is possible to choose the father's name, though. I have no idea what happens if you then later get married and choose the other name as the family name. I'm sure there's some law for that as well, probably just telling you that you can't...
As for divorce/remarriage, children just keep their names. The surnames can be changed, but don't have to - my husband doesn't share his name with his mother/stepfather/half-sisters he grew up with, because he didn't want to change it.