Joyce, In Galicia (Southern Poland, Eastern Austria, Western Ukraine) this was common because the civil authorities limited Jewish civil marriages so many Jews only had a religious one.  Then the children received the mother's maiden name.  However Warsaw was in Congress Poland and this was not a reason for this in Warsaw.   I can however think of other reasons, such as a rape or an affair, where the husband did not want to acknowledge the child. 

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Sarah L Meyer
Georgetown TX
ANK(I)ER, BIGOS, KARMELEK, PERLSTADT, STOKFISZ, SZPIL(T)BAUM, Poland
BIRGARDOVSKY, EDELBERG, HITE (CHAIT), PERCHIK Russia (southern Ukraine) and some Latvia or Lithuania
https://www.sarahsgenies.com