Double barreled surnames?

When I was single I had an unusual surname and wanted to keep it because of that, but also wanted to take my husband's name. They really didn't sound right together so I abandoned the idea of going double barrelled.
Also when single I worked briefly in medical research. My supervisor used her maiden name for publications although I knew her by her married name. As I have one publication in my maiden name I would have done the same for professional reasons but it became irrelevant as I didn't continue to work in that field.
I think if you marry someone with a common name like Smith, going double barrelled makes sense to identify you amongst the many. I knew a family who all had a surname as one of their middle names but were not officially double barrelled. Their surname was Smith and another family of Smiths who were in the same circle of friends happened to have 2 children with the same christian names as the other Smith family. The only way to distinguish in the end became to use the common middle name as if it was a double barrelled surname.

My surname was Gibbons so I was glad to change it to a good Scottish surname as I was fed up of all the 'ape' jokes. What strikes me about all these options about surnames is that it will be harder than ever to track down old friends. It's hard enough keeping track of female friends especially if they marry, remarry, move etc. I always list friends' addresses by first name rather than surname for that reason.....

My daughter in law kept her maiden name and made it doubled barrelled with my sons name but only she uses that, their child my DGD has her fathers name. I think it depends on the husbands name. The new wife does not always like to give up a rare name for a more common one.
we live in a designer world and they design their name too, up to each of them if that makes them happy and thy all agree. I think they think it sounds posh. LOL

There is a chap where I work who has such a name. We refer to him (not when he is there) as Mr Double-Barrelled, and everyone knows who we are talking about!

I hate the fact that I lost my surname when I married. I liked it and don't like my married name. In the seventies we had no choice.

I work in an office and have to set up new employees on our systems. I have noticed a great increase in the number of young people with double barrelled names. I too have wondered about what happens when they have children with someone who also has two surnames.

IMO, it's ok to not approve of unmarried couples with children.

Perhaps the way forward is to adopt the Spanish system, whereby when say, Ana Moreno marries Juan Molina their children use the surname Moreno y Molina until they marry. On marriage their daughters will traditionally drop their mother's surname, retaining their father's as the first of their married surnames and add their husbands. Thus Maria Morena y Molina, daughter of Ana and Juan becomes María Molina y Enriques upon marrying Carlos Feuntes y Erinques.

If that is too complicated to contemplate, here in Denmark women often retain their surname, the children are given both parents' surnames and may as adults decide to drop one of them. In other cases, some parents decide in advance that if the first child is a girl all the children will be given their mother's surname and if it is a boy all the children will be given their father's.

Quite a few years ago I went to the wedding of a friend's daughter at the local register office. It was the simplest of weddings by the bride's own choice.
The bride not only kept her own surname after marriage but didn't have a wedding ring either. They had lived together for some time, but had decided once they wanted to have children they would marry before starting their family. Once the children arrived they were given the surnames of both parents. They wanted their children to have the acknowledgement of them being married and reflected it in this way.

I always thought the same as you Nonnie....what happens when the children marry?
So after my first divorce I kept my married name to have the same name as my children. When my sister married she kept her maiden name for professional reasons....so when I remarried I didn't want to change my name....but the name I was using was my first hubbys name, which seemed disloyal to new hubby.
When the 2nd hubby left me for another woman I changed back to my maiden name by deed poll, our daughter now uses both our last names. Changing names & telling all the people, companies etc who need to know is a nightmare. If I could do it again I would not change my name at all.

My daughter and I had same conversation when she married ...she wanted a double-barrelled surname...her husband was ‘for it’. I pointed out what happens when their kids marry ...these family names just get longer and longer. She saw the sense of it but was never comfortable in taking her husbands name. They are separated now and she intends going back to her own name again for professional reasons . But will keep her married name for the kids , to make it less complicated for them. So the school will know her by her married name but her clients by her own name. I fully applaud her!

I always thought the same as you Nonnie....what happens when the children marry?
I suppose you end up with something like Vane-Tempest-Stewart-Plus? or even Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville.

Inishown.... if you hate your married surname don’t use it! There is NOTHING in law says you have to use your husbands name. Just call yourself by your own name. You don’t have to change it by deed poll...because in reality you didn’t change it when you married!! You just ‘chose’ to use his name. Be brave and ‘choose’ to use your real name now!! Just do it!!

Its a personal choice and I was more than happy on my marriage to take on my husbands surname as my one and only surname This is an interesting surname and identifies me with a Scottish clan although by birth a 'Sassenach'.

Yup, same as you Nonnie had been pondering on this before now.Extended family have done this ( they are married btw ) so we wonder what will happen when their girls marry.After all, you can’t go on adding names every time!Perhaps they will keep the first part of the double barrel and add the first part of the husband’s double barrel........who knows?If they marry soon I shall come on GN and tell you.

It’s as daft as the fashion for weird first names.

Your disapproval is noted GabriellaG54.

One of my grandsons has a double barrelled name. His parents separated before he was born, so it was important that he had both names as he is being co-parented. When (if?) he marries he has the choice to keep or discard one of his surnames. Both surnames are quite long so it will be a beggar for him to fill in forms.

I find some of these double barrelled name just sound a bit silly to me.

In my last job where it was important to remember people's names, I found the longer names far easier to recall.

I married in 1975 and it was the norm to have the husbands surname. No question about it. To this day I only know one person with a double barreled name.

My granddaughter will register her nearly here twins with her name & her partners, hyphenated. When (& if, of course) they marry, she will drop her name for them and they'll just be known by his surname then. So no, not pretentious at all; just acknowledging the fact that the babies are both hers and her partners.

Taught a child who had a double barrelled surname AND a double barrelled Christian name. All were very long names and totally impossible to fit in class lists or round their trays. However the parents would not allow any abbreviations ?

One of my grandsons (11 yrs old) decided he wanted to use both his mum's and stepfathers surnames but they haven't done anything official yet in case he changes his mind.
My FIL was very disappointed that DH, his only son, had 2 daughters so the family name would end but as it happened both daughters had sons when they were unmarried and both have their mothers surnames so the name continues.
My elder daughter who married last year is the 3rd generation to marry someone who's surname starts with the same letter as their maiden name.
My nan always said 'change the name but not the letter marry for worse and not for better' but as my mum and dad where married for over 45 yrs and DH and I have been married 46 yrs to date I think we've disproved that saying.

My sister has a double barrelled first name, and married a man with a double barrelled surname. If she's have added her own surname her name would have become.. Anna-Maria Smith - Jones- Green ( not her real name)

Our question exactly Nonnie when both our AC got married! DIL didn’t want to change her name, so they decided to “double-barrel” both their names. We think DD got the idea from them, as she decided to do the same thing when she got married.