Legal action to change a child's last name is common when the parents are unmarried. In Bonilla v Appeal of Probate Court. A mother appealed a probate court decision not permitting her to change her child's last name to her new husband's last name. The court has absolute discretion to make this ruling. The Superior court supported the decision that in the absence of proof that the child was being embarrassed by having a different last name than his mother and with the proof that he had a strong connection to his father and his heritage, his father's last name should remain.