Speaking of last names. If you knew your family line originally descends from a bastard, would you change your name?
The sad thing is that, somewhere down the line in France (or Maine, Quebec, New Orleans) this writer's ancestor was a bastard. Now, that's not really so bad. Happened to lots of people. Most of us probably don't even know that we too are the progeny of bastards. The sad part is that the villagers started calling this kid a bastard, and soon enough, the kid went to school, and he was asked, "What's your name?" He replied, "Le Batard." The bastard. He grew old, had sex, maybe married the woman he had sex with, but no matter we know he sired a male child. Whether that child was a bastard or not is irrelevant, because on his birth he too was called, the Bastard (poor kid) and for centuries this family has been naming their kids, the Bastard.
At the very least, they could have changed the kid's name to "Le Batardson."