PORTLAND, Ore.-
It has taken more than two years and time in court for one Oregon couple to choose their baby’s name. Christy M. Wizner and Chad M. Doherty had a baby on April 8, 2004. The couple was not married.
Wizner, now 30, decided her daughter should have the same last name as her three other children. Doherty, now 31, wanted the girl to have his surname, arguing that “Wizner” is not ancestral but rather the name of the mother’s former spouse.
The parents each got lawyers.
The issues that usually are the most contentious–child support, custody and visitation–were resolved quickly. But Wizner and Doherty still couldn’t agree on their daughter’s last name. So the judge held a hearing in November, 2004.
Morrow County Circuit Judge Jeffrey M. Wallace said the standard for settling such a dispute was unclear, but decided to follow the custom of naming the child after a biological parent of the child.
Wizner appealed, and more than two years later the Oregon Court of Appeals weighed in. But not before a quick review of nearly 1,000 years of naming customs.
Judge Pro Tempore Daniel L. Harris wrote that in married couples, the tradition developed that children receive the name of the father because he held all legal rights in the family.
The custom was quite different for unmarried couples where “the child was either given the surname of the mother or the mother was given the right to name the child,” Harris wrote.
But in the latter half of the 20th century, however, the law shifted “away from the interests of the parents to a focus on the best interests of the child,” he wrote.
Citing two key factors–the reasonable preference of the custodial parent and the avoidance of confusion or embarrassment–outweighed giving the girl her father’s last name.
“We recognize that having a surname different from the noncustodial father’s surname can have an impact on the relationship that the noncustodial parent has with the child,” Harris wrote.
But, Harris wrote, “development of a bond between father and daughter will depend on the love and devotion that father exhibits toward his daughter, not on whether the child bears his name.”
Attorneys for both parents could not be reached for comment.
The Court of Appeals ruling will end the dispute, unless Doherty appeals to the Oregon Supreme Court.
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Information from: The Oregonian,
