I got married right out of highschool and changed my name. We later had a baby and the marriage didn't work out - of course the baby had my husband's last name. I went back to my maiden name.

Then I got remarried and changed my name again. I then had the same name as all of my stepchildren (who we had custody of) but still had a different last name than my own son.

Now it looks like I'll be getting divorced. If I change my name back to my maiden name again, my son, my stepdaughters, and I will all have different last names! (Of course my stepdaugters will all get married and have different last names than me, anyway).

If I had simply retained my maiden name all along, and also given it to my son, then we would have the same last name.

I don't understand why we give our children our husbands' last names when divorce is so common and the mother usually winds up with the kids.