"i dunno, i'd think the person who, you know, lives with the name would know where it came from"

I suppose they figured that, because they were grown-ups and I was only a kid, they knew better. (It was a pretty common attitude back then, I'm sorry to say.) However, my parents had told me long since that it was my mother's maiden name; so, in this case, I was definitely the one who knew better!