How high is the sky? Not trying to be facetious, but there never was a set "policy or practice" about naming an illegitimate child. It was left up to the mother (or her family) as to what surname to give a child. In my experience from having done genealogical research for over 30 years, "most of the time" the child took his mother's surname (probably 95+% of the time). Actually, I can count very few entries in my almost 100,000 name database where such a child was given a surname other than his mother's. Maybe I'm dense, but I've never come across any "policy or practice" before. In fact, most of the time, the children of an unwed mother took her birth surname. One could only try to determine the father's surname by looking at many, many records, such as Census Reports, Wills, etc. Sarge At 5/14/2011 01:20 PM Saturday, you wrote: *********START OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT********* >In the early 1800s, what seems to have been the policy or practice of >naming an illegitimate child? Would he or she take his natural father's >surname or that of his mother? If this policy or practice reversed at some >point >in time, approximately when did the change occur? > >Thanks for the help ! > Carole > >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at >http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html **********END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT*********** To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html