[Damian]

My wife recently found her father, whom she had never met and about whom she knew next to nothing. Her father claims that he, in turn, never knew that her mother was pregnant and therefore never knew that he had a child. He was not married to my wife's mother. Nonetheless, his last name appears on my wife's birth certificate as her last name.

Assuming that what her father says about not knowing he was a father is true, how is it possible that his name would (or could) appear on the birth certificate as my wife's last name?

My wife was born in Florida.

[aaron]

Her mother may have filled in the father's name on the application for a birth certificate, or a nurse at the hospital may have completed the form with the father's name, and thus the birth certificate was issued with the father's name.

[Damian]

Okay, so it is possibly as simple as that...

Thanks.