Do orphans have last names?

21 Answers

• Dear Shay-Lynn,

  Yes, orphans have last names. Sometime it is the last name of their first mother or father and sometimes they are assigned a name by a Judge or Orphanage or Hospital Staff.

  Names DO NOT have to be changed at adoption, but adoptive parents ARE given the OPTION to do so.

  Lastly, to the poster who said Little Orphan Annie didn’t have a last name – yes she did. It was Smudge.

  ETA: I thought you sounded very legitimate and I don’t think this was a stupid question – how would you know if you weren’t involved in this stuff!? Thanks for bothering to ask. Too many people just assume things -especially when it comes to adoption!

  Source(s): Mother of Four, First Mom, Former GAL, Played the role “Tessie” in “Annie” for a professional theatre company for a 6 month run. Smile darn ya, smile!!

• I was orphaned by the deaths of my parents when I was only 6 mths old and I went by my fathers last name/my mothers married name

• My relative was an orphan on the Orphan Train in the 20s. The caregivers would just make up a name. Sometimes the name was based on a ‘guess’ of ethnicity, sometimes just whatever popped into their heads. He happened to arrive in a basket with a first name, and the note was written in German, so they just supplied a German surname. It was changed later on once he was adopted.

  There are orphans today that have no identity (yes, even in the US) and the nurses come up with a name. A surname is approved by a judge. The child has this identification until adopted. That’s what they do when a baby is abandoned in a Safe Haven as well as those abandoned at hospitals where the mom lied about her identity and just walked off.

• if a person or people gave a baby to an orphanage these peop would have a last name so the bab would too

  orphanages have records

  hosp have records

  gov’ts have records

  peopl have records & memories

• I am adopted and when I was in Foster Care, I was given the last name of my supposed birth father…

• In China children in orphanages are sometimes given the same last name as the town in which the orphanage is. Such as those in the city of Yulin are given the last name Lin.

  BTW your question isn’t stupid. Some here seem to forget some children are simply abandoned and never named at all by their birth parents. They especially don’t have papers with the name on it.

• yes, they do. It would be the last name as stated by their biological parents on the birth certificate. If they were simply found as a baby, they have the last name of “Doe” or “Smith” listed until they are legally adopted by a family.

• An orphan is a child whose parents have died.

  This can be at any time during their youth.

  The birth certificate would be the same as anyone else’s.

  I would think that even if a father died before the child’s birth it wouldn’t make any difference.

  Why would it?

• Yes they do. If the birthmother’s last name is known, then that’s what they use, but if no family name is known, like when a child is abandoned, a last name is usually chosen by a social worker or orphanage worker.

• Yes, their birth mother’s last name.

  Then when they get adopted they usually take the name of the adopted family