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Last names

(12 Posts)
Grandma70s Sat 29-Jul-23 19:18:21

Chocolatelovinggran

In Iceland, daughters take mother's surname and sons the father's. The family are then the AB family. When the children marry, they keep their surname. The adult children repeat this, creating new family names AX, AY, and BZ.

That sounds a very sensible system.

NotSpaghetti Sat 29-Jul-23 19:08:16

I miss my double-barrelled maiden name to be honest.
I continued to use it professionally after marriage and at university for my degrees.

I was pleased when my daughter and husband joined their names in this way and know two families who do the Swedish/Icelandic thing Chocolatelovinggran describes. It doesn't create any problems as far as I can see.

Lots of Welsh names have been hyphenated in the past by the way. It's not a new thing.

eazybee Sat 29-Jul-23 18:36:37

As a teacher I used to hate the double barrelled surnames simply because they took up so much space on the register, peg and drawer labels and name cards. That of course was in the days when everything was hand-written, by the teacher.

Chocolatelovinggran Sat 29-Jul-23 18:33:54

In Iceland, daughters take mother's surname and sons the father's. The family are then the AB family. When the children marry, they keep their surname. The adult children repeat this, creating new family names AX, AY, and BZ.

Oreo Sat 29-Jul-23 18:18:59

I’ve always wondered about this too OP!
What will children with two surnames do if they grow up and marry?
What will their children be called?😄 It could get complicated.

Bella23 Sat 29-Jul-23 17:45:29

My DD's use their own names professionally they are married. The children are registered in their father's name.
I didn't mind giving mine up but I do get asked about my married name as where we are names are very regional . My FIL was the only one in the telephone book at one time.

tanith Sat 29-Jul-23 17:32:08

My sons children are double barrelled but will be free to choose to use either one or remain double barrelled as they get older.

aggie Sat 29-Jul-23 16:22:09

And in the example above it is more common to be mr and Mrs yx , ie the fathers name is the main name
My girls kept their names , it would have been hilarious if one had done the add on as both names started with Mc

aggie Sat 29-Jul-23 16:18:14

Legally the child takes the fathers name

Grandma70s Sat 29-Jul-23 16:08:48

I have always thought the sensible thing is for the couple each to keep their own name, as my son and DIL have done (they are married) and I wish I had done. Then it has to be decided what surname the children take. I feel the daughters should have the mother’s name and the sons the father’s, but my son and DIL have taken the conventional route and both boy and girl are known by my son’s surname. They have my DIL’s surname as one of their middle names.

I really minded giving up my name, but in 1968 I didn’t have the courage to keep it.

BlueBelle Sat 29-Jul-23 15:55:39

Up to them !

Ijustwantpeace2020 Sat 29-Jul-23 15:51:03

I worked in a school when double barrelled surnames became popular amongst the unmarried couples so this is a genuine question. So he is Mr X. She is Miss Y. When they get together they become Mr & Mrs X-Y. They have a child who becomes child X-Y. This child grows up and then gets together with another double barrelled person A-B. My question is do they become Mr/Mrs A-B-X-Y and so on and does their child become A-B X-Y? Where does it end? Obviously it could be two women or two men but for simplicity I’ve just stated male and female.