Double barreled surnames?

I quite like double barrelled names. My daughter and GD have hyphenated first names, but I never thought about a person with a double-barrelled surname marrying another person with a double-barrelled surname.

barralling *barrelling

Some GNers would have a bit of bother with form filling if they adopted the current craze of double barralling their surnames as some have been married two or three times.

grannyactivist
May I, with respect ask that you do not put your own interpretation on my words.
I did not write that I approved or disapproved. I wrote that, IMO it was ok to not approve, just as I might write that it's ok not to approve of 90yr olds wearing mini skirts.
Thanks.

I often wonder how people fill out official forms like exam entries nd passport applications! I only have three names and on some forms there is only just space with the system os a letter per block.

hicaz46, I don't mean anything bad by it, my own grandson has a double-barreled name cos his parents are not married.

My daughter in law has kept her maiden name and added it to my son’s but the children just have their dad’s name.I think she told me that this is what is done in Canada, so a woman keeps her family name at marriage. Seems a great idea to me!

My mother once told me, 'You can call yourself anything you want as long as you sign legal documents with your legal name.'

When I married (late 60's) I knew I could keep my unusual maiden name if I wanted but chose not to. I felt proud to take my husband's name. When he died, friends asked if I'd go back to my maiden name but I didn't want to.
My son lives with his partner and her son, who uses Mum's name, rather than that of his birth father.

When I write to them (dgs loves getting mail) I address the letter to the "The *Bennett-Vodanovich Family" so no one is excluded.

My dgs loves this idea and says he wants his surname added to my son's. That's well into the future, if it happens.

*not their real names of course.

I kept my own name when I married. When we had kids we gave them both of our names but no hyphen. Its up to them what they do with their names if and when they marry, but I know for sure they wont be adding to them by having 3 last names!

Bit harsh readymeals, it’s neither posh nor chavvy, just a sign of the times . Women no longer need to feel part of a patriarchy by taking their husband’s name. Sharing seems fairer.

My son has a double-barrelled first name and recently added my partners name to his surname so he also has a DB surname. People always comment on how professional his 'new' surname sounds.

I work in a hospital pharmacy, and it does cause problems when printing medicine labels-we only have so many characters we can print; and double-barrelled names get cut short sometimes.

My dil has a professional career and kept her own maiden name when she married my son.
When dgd came along she was given mum's surname as a middle name and then dad's surname. No hyphen and no double barrell.

I grew up with my mother's maiden name as my middle name, again no hyphen or double barrell.
The only difference between me and the posh folks was a hyphen.

Nanny41, the children of married parents often have two last names. We were away with a group of 50 couples with children for a big celebration. Our rooms had names on the doors, almost all the children had two names, lots had only their mothers name (married parents here) and very few, were from families who shared one last name. As you say, the times they are a changing

I have one DD who uses her husband's name as do her children but my other daughter , unmarried, chose to give her children her surname (my DH surname) as she and her partner thought it was a nicer surname and went with their given names better!! No-one seems perturbed by it. Especially the children who say they are pleased about the choice their parents made!

I agree with some here, the children of unmarried parents often have the two surnames, also another thing these days, some women keep their own maiden name, dont bother changing."The times they are a changing "

Gabriella which bit?

I am onto my third name. Had my dad's surname as a child, my DHs when I married then chose one of my own when I felt grown up! I occasionally double barrel (no hyphen ) when at medical appointments as forgot to inform the NHS , way back in the 80s, that I had changed my name, by deed poll. All medical records are still in DH surname so I sign any medical forms with my current surname as part of a double barrel name! I have lived longest with my current name!

The whole thing is pretentious and foolish.

PennyWhistle - way to go!
icanhandthemback - yep there are so many judgemental comments on this thread directed at people who don't follow the 'traditional' route of the wife giving up her name, with all that entails, on marriage.

Here in Scotland it has always been the convention to retain your maiden name by giving it to your DC as a middle name and when you die you are Mary MacDonald wife of Ian Reid on your gravestone, not, Mrs Mary Reid.

However it seems to me that women are just exchanging one man's name for another if their name is their father's name so not a nod to feminism.
I know a man who changed his name to Mother's son after his father left so became.
Motherson.
I think your answer about double barrelled surnames Nonnie, is that they just choose which ones to drop.

When we married at 19, the registrar put me off keeping my own surname by saying it would be costly and complicated to do. So I lost my own surname and took his.

When he asked what I would like for our 20th wedding anniversary, I said (rather tongue in cheek) that I would like my own name back.

So the whole family (incuding our two DD's changed our surname by deed of name change at the local solicitor to double barrel both of our surnames.

Last year when my elder DD married, her new husband changed his own surname to ours. So now there are more of us!

Hardly pretentious - just so happy not to have lost my identity - or to have a different surname to my children

I double barrelled my name when I got married. I was 3 years into a teaching degree and I was just about to qualify. I was also teaching in the school I was going to work in and I wanted to use the same name I'd had for a long time. My daughter was also known as my previous surname so I wanted the link. I think it is judgemental to assume that the reasons for doing this are snobbish.

I know a couple who are called the James Hall Angus Smyth's (seriously ) for just that reason. The James family wanted to pass on their name and when one married a Hall kept it. The Smyths Family took in a cousins child and adopted them keeping the surname Angus to remember the real parents by. The James-Hall family felt strongly about keeping their name as did the Angus Smyths so the said resulted child was called James Hall Angus Smyth, (pronounced s-my-th, what cracked me up was when that child turned 18 he changed his name by deed poll to plain Smyth (Prounounced Smith) he only kept the spelling of his last name the same because it made some paperwork easier.

Dh’s family dropped the first half of their double-barrelled name but as it was a girl’s name many of the daughters and granddaughters have it as a middle name.
I took my husband’s name gladly when we married - it’s the same as my mother’s maiden name!
I only know one person with a triple-barrelled name and in that case the first and third names are the same.