"Complicating our efforts, our child does not share a last name with either my wife or me. We gave our child a different last name to avoid picking either of our surnames or a lengthy compound name.
A side-effect of the new surname is additional privacy: our child’s first and last name is a truly unique combination. "<p>I think this is extremely bad advice.<p>1. First of all, having a unique name means that you are easy to find. I spent some time finding former classmates. Those with common names are practically impossible to find if you don't have any other keywords, like an employer. For some there are hundreds or thousands of people with the same name, typically in the same age group. The worst ones are those whose name is the same as a famous person. One of my former class mate has the same name as a poet who is famous enough to have several streets and even a school named after him. No chance finding him. Another classmate has the same name as a lawyer who seems to be in hundreds of news articles and court documents. One shares the name of a record company manager, who also seems to be all over the internet.<p>But those who have very unusual names are trivial to find. As soon as they are mentioned anywhere on the internet, they are at the top of every google search.<p>If you want to protect your child's privacy, call her Taylor Swift.<p>2. Not sharing the last name of the kid makes your life more complicated. Every time you cross a border you need to proof to the immigration officer it's your kid. You can't easily open a savings account, get insurance.. there are many situations where you can easily do things for your kid when you share a last name, no questions asked, but if the last name is different you must proof guardianship.