Lawyer sparks debate after explaining why she thinks babies should only take their mother's surname

Kids are typically given their father's surname. Rarely do parents decide to go against convention and give their children their mother's surname. Dr. Charlotte Proudman, a lawyer and founder of the organization, Right2Equality, shared her views on the matter on X. She advocated that children should be given their mother's name and her reasoning was quite valid. However, people in the comments were divided. While some agreed with the lawyer, others felt it was discriminatory towards men.

Dr. Proudman started with a piece of advice for pregnant women. She wrote, "A message to pregnant women - please give the baby your surname." The lawyer went on to explain why she said that. "You carried a baby for nine months, gave birth, and will be responsible for that child for the rest of your life," she pointed out. "When you’re registering the baby ask yourself: why is the father’s surname more important than yours?" People on the social media platform shared their opinions on the subject.

@JasonGreen464 commented on what he felt about Dr. Proudman's views, "This is just pretty man-hating." @samcarvalhi also agreed, "Fathers aren’t responsible for their children for the rest of their lives? Women grouping men into one category, lmao. You know there are terrible mothers out there with single fathers taking care of their kids. All mothers must be bad as well then yes?" @roarnowheesht shared how she has named her children, "Mine have my husband's surname but a family surname from my family as one of their middle names. As my siblings and I had and our dad and his siblings and so on. I love the pattern going through the generations." @roosestokes expressed, "Did exactly this." @cmeetscarnivore expressed, "Because I want us to all share one name. He also bears responsibility for our child for the entirety of his life. And he is not more important than my maiden name - but he is the glue and the reason for having my son so - we will be taking his name." 

In an interview with Good Morning Britain, the lawyer spoke about why parents need to start giving children the mother's surname. She pointed out that historically, using the father's name comes from the idea that "children are property of the father." "We are in 2023, it's about time that we recognize the labor we go through, carrying the baby for nine months, going through the trauma of childbirth, breastfeeding, a life-long responsibility. I was saying when you register your child think about whether your surname is more important or as important as the father's name," she said. "Why do we not redress that inequality and the gender imbalance by saying, 'It's our time, Kate, we are going to have our names and our babies are going to take our identity.'"