Name Change for a Minor in Mississippi

My question involves name change laws in the State of: Mississippi

I have been trying to change my child's names for years. I am married and I want my child to have our new family name. I found a layout to petition name change. I want to remove my child's first name because she has two middle names and like I stated before give my child our new family name before she starts school. She doesn't even know that her first name is her first name. If you were to call her by her first name she wouldn't have the first clue that you were referring to her. I am being told that I have to have a lawyer by lawyers (go figure) but I'm also being told that I can do it myself. Someone other than her father signed her birth certificate. We all know and agree that that person isn't the father but he has been M.I.A. since for years. (The person that signed the certificate that is!) I know for a fact that he would be okay with my husband and I changing our name. We just cant find him.

So... Can I do this alone, without an attorney or what?

do you know who the father is?

ah, yes, I see you and the now legal father committed fraud and named him as the legal father. Regardless what you want to argue now, for legal purposes, he is the father. To change the child's name, you will most likely have to at least attempt to contact him. Unless the child is being adopted, your name is not HER family name. Judges tend to frown on backdoor adoptions like this. Why not have your current husband adopt the child?