Can a mother unilaterally change her daughter's name without the consent of the father?

In Zho v. Chen, supra, the parents had entered into an agreement for shared custody which stipulated neither of them may change their daughter’s name without consent of the other. The mother remarried and six years later unilaterally sought to change the child’s surname to her new husband’s surname in order that such child would have the same name as the child born of her second marriage. In response thereto the child’s father applied for an order restraining the mother from changing his daughter’s surname. The chamber judge applied the best interest of the child test, placed the burden of establishing such benefit on the applicant, and held that the applicant failed to discharge such burden of proof. The judge appears to have given considerable weight to the close relationship between the father and the daughter when granting a prohibition order.