[Nikko's_human]

i can totally relate to your daughter's situation. My parents divorced when I was 4 and my "real" father never gave a crap about me. His birthday is the day before mine so it was impossible for him to forget, yet I never received a card or a call. He is an alcoholic and a very dysfuncional person which is why my mom left him. I kept his last name but felt no connection to it. When I recently got married, everyone asked me if i was going to hyphenate my name and add my husband's to mine. Absolutely NOT!! I have taken my husband's name fully and now i have a name to be proud of. If this is something your daughter really wants to do, then I would support her decision. the only thing that upsets me is that by doing so, you would be letting that deadbeat dad off the hook too easily instead of forcing him to be a man and take care of his children.