honestly i think we should normalize giving kids their own unique last name. they already get their own first and middle (if given) name. inheriting your last name just perpetuates patriarchal ideas of children as property and patrilineal inheritance of wealth. the inherent ridiculousness of it gets even more obvious when people hyphenate their last names for their childs last name. what happens when their child has children with someone else who also had hyphenated last names? two generations in and your last name is starting to look more like a list of sponsors than a name. three generations in and youve got 8 last names all smooshed together and youre gonna have serious issues filling out paperwork and online forms. just give kids their own unique full name and call it good.