NEED TO KNOW

A teen said his mother and stepfather forced a hyphenated last name on him after his father died

He claimed he never wanted the change and spent years informally dropping his stepfather’s name

After turning 18, he legally removed the hyphen and now feels no guilt despite his family being upset about it

A teenager turned to the Reddit community for advice following years of conflict over a last name he never wanted but was expected to embrace.

He explained in his post that his father died when he was 5 and that his mother remarried just a year later, blending their two families almost immediately. His stepfather, who was also a widower, has four kids, while the poster has two siblings.

The 18-year-old said that when the wedding happened, “they decided to hyphenate all o

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