Short answer
Not in itself. You may change or adopt a surname for a valid reason, as long as you never claim a father who is not yours. Taking a stepfather's or adoptive father's surname in a way that looks like lineage is not allowed. Scholars differ on a wife taking her husband's surname.
Changing a surname is permissible when it does not falsify lineage. Attributing yourself to anyone other than your real father is haram. On a wife using her husband's family name, many Hanafi muftis advise against it because it looks like a change of lineage, while others allow it where everyone understands it as a married name.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Allah commands that people be called by their fathers' names, and the Prophet ﷺ warned that whoever knowingly claims someone other than his father has committed a grave sin. The issue is lineage, not the label. A surname in Western law is often just a family name, so changing it is not, by itself, a change of father.
Allowed:
- Choosing an Islamic or Arabic surname after converting, or simplifying a long or hard-to-spell name.
- Changing a surname with a bad or shirk meaning.
- Using a tribal or family name, or the father's first name as a surname.
Not allowed:
- A child taking a stepfather's or adoptive father's surname so that people think he is the father. See the adopted child's surname.
- Hiding or disowning your real father's name to deny the relationship.
A wife taking her husband's surname: this is the area of difference. Some scholars say it imitates a custom that implies a change of lineage and is best avoided, since the Prophet's wives kept their fathers' names. Others say that in places where everyone knows it means "wife of", it is a custom of identification and permissible. If you take it, keep your father's name in official records where possible. A wife who keeps her own name is following the classical practice.
For the meaning of bin and bint, see bin and bint in Muslim names.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Ahzaab 33:5
ٱدْعُوهُمْ لِءَابَآئِهِمْ هُوَ أَقْسَطُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ فَإِن لَّمْ تَعْلَمُوٓا۟ ءَابَآءَهُمْ فَإِخْوَٰنُكُمْ فِى ٱلدِّينِ وَمَوَٰلِيكُمْ ۚ وَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌۭ فِيمَآ أَخْطَأْتُم بِهِۦ وَلَٰكِن مَّا تَعَمَّدَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًا ﴿٥﴾
Call them by [the names of] their fathers; it is more just in the sight of Allah. But if you do not know their fathers - then they are [still] your brothers in religion and those entrusted to you. And there is no blame upon you for that in which you have erred but [only for] what your hearts intended. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.
Lineage must stay with the real father.
Sahih al-Bukhari 6766
Sahih... من ادعى إلى غير أبيه وهو يعلم أنه غير أبيه فالجنة عليه حرام ...
"Whoever claims to be the son of someone other than his father, knowing he is not his father, Paradise is forbidden to him."
The warning against falsifying lineage.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Hazr wa al-Ibahah, discussion of names. Rulings on names and attributing oneself to others.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.