Why do people double barrel first names?

I hated it. It sounded so , council, for lack of a better word.

Seriously

Traditional in some countries, though no doubt a bit old-fashioned now. I know several, such as Marie-Paule (Belgium), Marie-Luz (Spain), etc.In my day, French school text books had regular characters called Marie-France and Jean-Paul. Ireland, too, as has been mentioned - Carol-Anne, etc. Also some of the Scottish islands - that's why you have Katie Morag, from the books, though I don't think that's hyphenated.

It's ok in France - the limited choice of approved names etc.
In the UK, it's generally considered as not very classy.
I know a Jade-Emma and an Ellalouise. 4 fairly nice names ruined IMO.
Middle names tend to go in and out of fashion. Ann and Jane were popular when I was born, then it was Louise and now May/Mae, Rose and Grace are popular.

I don't like hyphenated first names for men,

Violet-Elizabeth Bott

thiskitten

Yes. It's not 'lower class'. bit it often sounds really twee.

I don't like it

It tends to result in a name that's less than the sum of its parts

Make up your mind which one you like best

I am named after my grandmother, except her name was double-barrelled and mine is not. The second part of her name is my middle name so the only difference is the hyphen. I like it either way, I think it's prettier all as one name, but perhaps easier to have a shorter first name.
Both are very traditional names and I don't think it's remotely "council estate", but I guess it depends on the names you use.
I work at a law firm where most are oxbridge graduates and there are quite a few very posh women with names like Sarah-Jane or Marie-Louise etc.

Queenofwands exactly and my problem is my DD2 has a separate properly spelt first and middle name like you described and that people seem to be obsessed with mashing up by adding an 'ie and saying them as if hyphenated.

I have a double-barrelled first name. Doesn't have a - .

'Isn't it common in France?'

My dad's parents were Mexican and he has a double-barrelled forename. Sounds lovely in Spanish.

You can still have to first names just put them together like sallyann or have the separate like Ann Marie you don't need a -.

It's a nice way to use a really popular name but make it different like Satan-grace or Clara-rose or whatever. I like it.
This made me laugh so much

Or just call her Emily

The trend in hypentated Mae names, I can maybe understand. 'Lily-Mae', 'Lola-Mae' etc sound cutesy which I think is the appeal. And they also tend to be just three syllables which isn't too much of a mouthful.

But I can't understand plonking two names together that sound so clunky. For instance, Emma-Lily. Just choose one name! It's four syllables of pointlessness. And Emma-Lily's parents will probably complain when teachers at her school are calling her Emma.

I'm double barrelled but it was to differentiate me from a close relative who was born a few weeks before me and by coincidence her mum gave her the name my mum had picked out for me!

My maternal family all call me by my full double barrelled name, everyone else just uses my first name

sticky we're not near school age yet; she's not even crawling! Oh well, it's a very minor thing, just took me by surprise. And after giving her all these lovely feminine names I mainly call her Squidgy .

There was a Hannah-Elizabeth at my DS's school. I've also met a child I can't name as it's too identifiable with a 3 syllable-4 syllable double barrelled name. 7 syllables for a first name is at least 2 too many.

Almost 30 years ago, I taught a DC with two traditional English names both with three syllables, joined with a hyphen. Think Harriet-Annabel. Her mother insisted on her being called by both names.

Yes. It's part of a culture of infantilising and cutifying little girls and forgetting that they will grow into adulthood IMO. Although more and more boys are getting them too, tommy-joe, Alfie-ray etc

like people giving their kids cutesie nicknames as full names.

Indeed. I used to refer to my daughter as Missy-Moo. Her name isn't Missy. It doesn't even start with M. There does seem to be a general feeling among many mothers that a baby girl's name has to be cute above anything else and sound nice. Boys names have to be stong and masculine.

All a bit depressing really.

Hummus, you shouldn't have given in to granny!

Is there be another Ava in your DD's class by any chance? That's where middle names come into their own. Bloody useful they are then. I know of two Hannahs in one class. One is known as 'Hannah' and the other as 'Hannah Rose' (first & middle).

I come from a different culture where middle names are for using (so no hyphen required, people will generally use them until told otherwise by the grown child, if they so decide).

Imagine my sister’s surprise on meeting her new boss - Jean Marie - who she had thought was a woman.

Marie Jean would have been a woman, of course.

The French don't seem to shorten names like the British do. British people rarely call their intimates by their whole names (see obsessive Baby Names posts about shortenings) and it occurs to me from my very limited knowledge of Russia that they frequently shorten names too. Maybe it's a cold climate thing, to conserve energy

Joking aside, if you accept that your child's name will be shortened by her friends but REALLY want her to be known as Emily, then you could name her Emily-Rose and her friends would be highly likely to call her Emily; whereas if you went for just Emily she'd end up being Em.

#showerthoughts , not a fully formed theory

I know siblings show parents didn't bother with hyphens - think Janelouse and Johnpaul but not .

I also know one mum who insists ther DS has two first names and no middle name. But apparently it's ok just to call him by his first name. I really struggle to get my head around that. I'm wondering if it's cultural? Anyway, I think he needs a hyphen.

There's going to be a lot of Gracie-Mae's in years to come changing their name to Grace, removing the hyphen and correcting the spelling to May.

Only winners here are the Deed Poll office.