Heyyyy, this is something I have a little firsthand knowledge of, because my mom recently sent me a batch of paperwork including several different copies of my birth certificate and some other stuff, so I'm like, "What is this?" and she explained.
First of all, it's totally a state-by-state/country-by-country thing: everywhere has their own particular set of laws about it.
But in Alaska in the 1970s (when/where I was born), if the parents were married, then the husband's name would automatically go on the birth certificate as the father. If the parents were not married, as was the case with mine, then the mother could not put the father's name on the certificate without a court order. Somewhat later in the decade, this was relaxed to allow the father's name to be added as long as there was a signed affidavit from both parents confirming paternity. So there's no father on my original birth cert., but there is some "legitimization" paperwork confirming a) my father's identity, and b) my "new" legal name with his surname (technically the same as my old name since they always planned to do this, but whatever), and then a new birth certificate with the father's name. I assume the idea was to prevent false paternity suits, so a woman couldn't just name the father as so & so without paperwork being filed. I would also assume (or, well, hope) that rules are more relaxed and flexible nowadays, but that's how it used to be.
THIS IS PROBABLY MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU WANTED.
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First of all, it's totally a state-by-state/country-by-country thing: everywhere has their own particular set of laws about it.
But in Alaska in the 1970s (when/where I was born), if the parents were married, then the husband's name would automatically go on the birth certificate as the father. If the parents were not married, as was the case with mine, then the mother could not put the father's name on the certificate without a court order. Somewhat later in the decade, this was relaxed to allow the father's name to be added as long as there was a signed affidavit from both parents confirming paternity. So there's no father on my original birth cert., but there is some "legitimization" paperwork confirming a) my father's identity, and b) my "new" legal name with his surname (technically the same as my old name since they always planned to do this, but whatever), and then a new birth certificate with the father's name. I assume the idea was to prevent false paternity suits, so a woman couldn't just name the father as so & so without paperwork being filed. I would also assume (or, well, hope) that rules are more relaxed and flexible nowadays, but that's how it used to be.
THIS IS PROBABLY MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU WANTED.