I know today it's unlikely for an orphan's original parentage to be completely unknown, but if a baby is found and no relatives can be found, how is a surname given?
I would wonder if any surname would be assigned. Babies are at the top of the list for adoptions, after all. Any time a story appears about an abandoned baby being found, it almost always includes some statement about X number of offers already having been made to adopt.
Talk to some of the facilities that run safe houses for infant drop offs. Hospitals normally have a bassinet in their foyers (normally ERs), firestations, EMS stations as well. There are protocols set up for the abandonment of a baby at these facilities and if the mother can not e found (which would be rare, but could happen) they would know what would be done in that situation.
it would depend on where this is and what kind of facility the infant is housed in... it would most likely be just given a temporary first and possibly a second name... the adoptive parents [if there are any] would be able to rename the child as they like... in legal records till then, the child may be listed as 'infant doe'...
In a hospital, newborn infants are named "Baby girl A" or "Baby Boy A" if their names are not readily provided by the parents after the birth. If there are twins, it would be "Baby girl A" & "Baby girl B".
Hi, I have no idea of who the person would actually be, but the naming of children is the responsibility of the parent, or the guardian. If a child is brought in with no parents and no known name, then the child would be a ward of the state, and the state would be the acting parent. Therefore someone in charge of looking after children for the state, (Department of Social Welfare? Human Services?) would have this responsibility. My thought is that it would be a beaurocrat somewhere with a set of naming guidelines in front of him. Cheers, Greg.
