Deciding on Baby's Last Name

Last names may be a hot topic for wedding-planning couples, but many parents-to-be find themselves revisiting it when discussing what to name baby. Even if you and your partner decided to keep your own last names, you may reconsider the surname for the product of the two of you.

For some families, deciding on a last name for baby is as difficult as coming up with a first. Many parents strive to have their child's name maintain connections to family history; others choose accordingly to sever those ties. Some families look at surnames more practically -- they feel adamantly about a first name ("Ilene") but it doesn't work with the last ("Dover").

Most Popular Last Names

Sometimes, a last name's popularity becomes a factor. Expectant mom Stephanie Jones Wagle didn't mind relinquishing her name over her husband's for her baby. "I just don't think we need any more Joneses," she says -- only half-kidding.

It's hard to track who's taking whose surnames in any official manner -- in fact, the U.S. Census bureau only releases name data every 72 years. But according to statistics taken in 1990, the top 10 most popular last names in the country (in descending order) are:

Smith
Johnson
Williams
Jones
Brown
Davis
Miller
Wilson
Moore
Taylor

Read on for some pros and cons of common last-name scenarios, plus how some families decided on which name to give baby.