History Main / NomDeMom

** After the Doctor's companion Donna Noble marries Shaun Temple, not only does she keep her maiden name, their daugher is named Rose Noble rather than Rose Temple.

* In ''Series/Charmed1998'', the Halliwell witches seem to have kept their name for several generations and passed it onto their children. When Leo seems mildly bummed that his and Piper's child wouldn't have his surname, Wyatt, Piper decides to name him Wyatt Matthew Halliwell. Their second and third children are Chris Halliwell and Melinda Halliwell.

* In ''Series/Charmed1998'', the Halliwell women seem to have kept their name for several generations and passed it onto their children. When Leo seems mildly bummed that his and Piper's child wouldn't have his surname, Wyatt, Piper decides to name him Wyatt Halliwell.

* Taynara Melo de Carvalho, a Brazilian[[note]]In the Portuguese naming system, the father's family name comes last—the direct opposite to the Spanish system. Thus, her father is a Carvalho and her mother a Melo.[[/note]] currently in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, started out in the business as Taynara Conti, reflecting her then-current marriage to judoka Jorge Conti. She continued using the "Conti" name, later shortening the first part to "Tay", after she separated from and then divorced Conti. Shortly after she married Wrestling/SammyGuevara in 2022, she changed her ring name to the current Tay Melo.

* ''Film/{{Creed}}'': Adonis initially refuses to use his [[Franchise/{{Rocky}} father's]] surname and goes by his birth mother's surname Johnson. When his rival's agent insists he use the Creed name to promote their fight, he's dismayed and reluctant to agree to it. He eventually learns to accept both names and in the final fight wears a pair of shorts that have both "Creed" and "Johnson" embroidered on them, a gift from his adoptive mother who also happens to be Apollo's widow.

As a general rule of thumb, this trope should apply to children who originally went by their father's last name and made the change later, whether self-motivated or otherwise.

This trope does not apply to illegitimate children who use their mother's name because they can't go by their father's -- the use of the mother's name should be a choice, not a necessity. Same for societies where matrilineal surname inheritance is the default. Not to be confused with UnnamedParent, where someone is treated as if her name is "Mom" because the story never gives any other name by which to call her.

* ''Fanfic/TheParliamentOfHeroes'': Rose absolutely '''despises''' her father, Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, due to all the abuse she suffered after he took her in and subjected her to TrainingFromHell, not to mention that he's responsible for her mother's death. As a result, she refuses to go by his last name and instead uses her mother's last name, Worth.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', a SequelSeries to ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender,'' both of [[LittleMissBadass Toph Beifong]]'s daughters, [[DaChief Lin]] and [[ReformedCriminal Suyin]], use her last name. This makes sense, since it's a setting where most other characters have OnlyOneName and the Beifong family is prestigious. It's eventually implied that Toph never married since her two daughters have different fathers and neither father is ever mentioned except in the final season when Korra asks Toph about Lin's father and learns his name was Kanto and he was nice but it didn't work out.

* In ''Toys/EverAfterHigh,'' Cerise Hood, daughter of Little Red Riding Hood, goes by her mom's surname. [[spoiler: This is because her father is The Big Bad Wolf (in this iteration, a humanoid wolf who can turn into a human form at will) and Ever After's strict insistence on following the stories to a tee means the family must remain secret for fear of banishment. Conversely, Cerise's sister Ramona goes by their father's surname.]]

* In the 1998 version of ''Film/{{The Parent Trap|1998}}'', Annie James and Hallie Parker are identical twins. They have different last names because when their parents divorced, they each got custody of one twin, and Elizabeth James chose to give Annie, whom she raised, her maiden name rather than the name of her ex-husband.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Taiyang Xiao Long has two daughters by two different women, Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose. His first wife, Raven Branwen, abandoned the family when their daughter, Yang Xiao Long, was a newborn. His second wife, Summer Rose, raised Yang as her own but died while Yang and Ruby were still very young. While Yang uses her father's name of Xiao Long, Ruby goes by her mother's name of Rose. Due to a past world war that attempted to suppress individuality and artistic expression, the world considers it a very serious matter to ensure that children have names that allow them to express themselves artistically. It's therefore very strongly implied that Ruby chose to use her mother's name, as she has incorporated the rose into her personal design, wearing a red cape that sheds like rose petals, and using a rose as her personal symbol, which is woven into her stockings and prominently displayed as her cloak clasp.

* Although it was always somewhat murky whether they had an official surname at all, the surname of the children of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth has been generally considered by the public to be Windsor, deriving from the House of Windsor to which Elizabeth belongs. Philip notably resented not being allowed to pass his name on to his children (an ironic sentiment from him, given the above), and ultimately their children and their sons' children began using "Mountbatten-Windsor" per Elizabeth's decision.

* Sabine Wren from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' takes her last name from her mother, as does her brother and father. Mandalorian culture is less concerned about gender and more about rank, and since her mother outranked her father, she was the one whose name was passed on. There's also minor character Mart Mattin who takes his name from his mother, although the reasoning is never mentioned.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice,'' WordOfGod says that [[DarkActionGirl Cheshire]]/Jade Nguyen uses her mother's maiden name because of her issues with [[AbusiveParents her father]], [[spoiler:Sportsmaster/Lawrence Crock]]. {{Averted}} by her sister, [[spoiler:Artemis]], despite having [[ArchnemesisDad similar issues]] with him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', a SequelSeries to ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender,'' both of [[LittleMissBadass Toph Bei Fong]]'s daughters, [[DaChief Lin]] and [[ReformedCriminal Suyin]], use her last name. This makes sense, since it's a setting where most other characters have OnlyOneName. It's eventually implied that Toph never married since her two daughters have different fathers and neither father is ever mentioned.

This trope does not apply to illegitimate children who use their mother's name because they can't go by their father's -- the use of the mother's name should be a choice, not a necessity. Not to be confused with UnnamedParent, where someone is treated as if her name is "Mom" because the story never gives any other name by which to call her.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' sees ComicBook/MilesMorales be an even truer example of this, as, unlike the Ultimate Universe, his dad Jefferson still goes by "Jefferson Davis" in this universe.

* The Creator/AlanMoore run of ''Comicbook/{{Miracleman}}'' was for a time drawn by Chuck Beckum. He'd later rise to fame as Creator/ChuckAusten, as a desire to get away from his father made him turn to his mother's surname.

* ''Film/TheLostBoys'': Michael and Sam Emerson. If the comic ''Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs'' is accurate, then Grandpa (their mother Lucy Emerson's father)'s last name is Emerson, indicating the boys took it after their parents divorced. The novelization of the movie doesn't go into that, but does state that their dad cheated on Lucy and didn't want custody of their sons, which would be reasons to want to drop his name.

* ''Film/TheLostBoys'': Michael and Sam Emerson. If the comic ''Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs'' is accurate, then Grandpa (their mother Lucy's father)'s last name is Emerson.

* ''Series/{{Stargirl|2020}}'': The titular character was raised solely by her mother, Barbara Whitmore, until the latter married Pat Dugan, since her biological father, Sam Kurtis, was a deadbeat. And it's unclear they were even married. As a result, she's known as Courtney Whitmore rather than Courtney Kurtis.

Reasons for Carol's use of her mother's maiden name vary. Maybe she had a huge [[ParentalIssues falling out with her dad]]. Maybe she's challenging traditional gender norms. Maybe she doesn't want the [[ShedTheFamilyName burden of fame or infamy]] of her father's last name -- or contrarily, ''does'' want to be associated with her mother's more prestigious family. Maybe there's [[OneSteveLimit another Carol]] whom she doesn't want to be confused with. Or maybe she just doesn't like Bob's last name. In-story this can be used to hide the relationship between two characters until it's time for TheReveal, as a subtrope of RealNameAsAnAlias.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', Peter's clone (who has all the same memories) takes the name ''ComicBook/ScarletSpider Ben Reilly]]'' the surname coming from Peter's adoptive mother, Aunt May (née Reilly). In this case, it's just a convenient way to hold onto his identity while trying to forge an independent one. (It also helps support [[RelativelyFlimsyExcuse the story that he and Peter are just uncannily identical cousins]].)

* In ''Franchise/SpiderMan,'' [[TheHero Peter]]'s clone (who has all the same memories) takes the name "Ben Reilly," the surname coming from Peter's adoptive mother, Aunt May (née Reilly). In this case, it's just a convenient way to hold onto his identity while trying to forge an independent one. (It also helps support [[RelativelyFlimsyExcuse the story that he and Peter are just uncannily identical cousins]].)
** Similarly, Peter's ComicBook/UltimateMarvel successor, [[ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan Miles Morales]] and his father, Jefferson like the aforementioned Shinji and Gendo Ikari, go by Rio's last name, rather than Jefferson's original last name, "Davis". Part of this is Jefferson trying to get away from his past as a thug. After crossing over to the 616-verse, Jefferson legally changes his last name to Morales to move past his "baggage" as a SHIELD agent as well as embarrassment over being a black man named "UsefulNotes/JeffersonDavis".
** Recently, Peter's friend Harry Osborn legally changed his name to Harry Lyman, after his mother's maiden name. Given that his father ComicBook/NormanOsborn is an absolute sociopath who tried to have Harry killed to [[ComicBook/DarkReign further his own agenda,]] Harry's desire to distance himself from the Osborn legacy is understandable.
* Syrin (Theresa Cassidy) went by her mother's surname when she was younger. The extent this went to varies depending on the era and the writer, with even what exactly her mother's last name was being rather fluid. (It was either Rourke or O'Rourke.) Thus Syrin's sometimes referred to as Theresa Maeve Rourke-Cassidy, Theresa Rourke-Cassidy, Theresa O'Rourke, Theresa Maeve Cassidy, etc. Matters aren't likely helped in that she's used her mother's name as a pseudonym.

* Rachel Grey in ''ComicBook/XMen'', formerly Rachel Summers. (Daughter of an alternate future Jean Grey and Scott Summers, at least by what's in print.) However, this is a recent thing, spurred by her feelings about Cyclops's affair with Emma Frost, as for years, she went by "Summers". She's now mostly back to Summers, though she seems to consider the two fairly interchangeable (the ''Heroic Age'' summary of the X-Men lampshaded this).