Double barrelling our surnames - which order?

Hedges-Perry, definitely

Perry-Hedges

Stick with Perry by itself, it’s strong.

Perry Hedges flows but I would not have a hyphen - just the double barrel name.

Hedges Perry does have an advantage of coming first in the alphabet though so I would go with that.

Put the first (and any other) names in the sequence and see what works best.

[I have two names Spanish style, although one parent not Spanish, and sometimes hyphenated in the UK, but it looked too odd.]

I ‘d go with Hedges Perry.
And I agree with a pp there is definitely more gravitas to Hedges Perry.

Hedges Perry although not much in it. You might loose the H if you went for Perry-Hedges. "Perryedges"

Both are a bit cumbersome.

Can you use Herry instead.

i would make Perry a middle name, as it also makes sense in this context for either gender, and hedges the surname.

I don't think they flow easily together as a double barrel in either combination sorry.

I prefer Hedges Perry although either option works!
We both double barrelled when we got married and picked the flow that we liked best which happened to be DH first, my name second. To my surprise MIL got upset about this - she is pretty traditional and thought the male name should be last, she feared that their family name was at risk of being dismissed or something. We did it anyway and she dropped it but just sharing in case this might be something you have to navigate.

I don't love being double barrelled, to be honest, but I still can't think of a better option for us. It was a "least bad" thing. We wanted a shared family name but I was reluctant to simply take my husband's surname for several reasons. I sometimes feel a bit guilty for saddling our kids with it though!

I’m not branding a company.

🤣🤣🤣

Ah this stupid question again.

Why don't you ask Spanish people how they cope with multiple last names?

Or alternatively have a think.

Also you are aware you don't have to give your child your own or your partners/spouses last name?

Hedges-Perry is much better in my opinion. Perry-Hedges makes Perry sound like an adjective and Hedges sound like a noun to me 😄

Hedges-Perry

Ignore all the ignoramuses who can't perceive of a convention other than their own. Personally I like the system whereby the surnames follow either the female or male line, so any sons pass on their father's name to their children, whereas any daughters pass on their mothers surname (and therefore over time you can trace whole maternal/mitochondrial DNA and paternal/y- chromosome lineages)

Perry-Hedges runs together better.

The "oh what to do if they marry" question is such a nonsense. They will choose a family name that might or might not include all elements of their current names.

I vote Hedges Perry

Why not pick a new family name? I think this is the solution going forward and I know a number of people who have done this.

They don’t have to ‘work’, though. This isn’t an aesthetic choice, it’s just what the child’s parents’ surnames are. DH’s and mine don’t sound good together at all, but it’s just DS’s surname regardless. I’m not branding a company.

Perry Hedges, OP.

I like Hedges Perry, but they both sound totally fine imo.

As for the constant refrain of "what will they do when they marry", I'd like to point out:

Not everybody changes their name on marriage, it's a trend very much on the way out in many countries (and never even took off in some!) and I've always been puzzled by how persistent it is here in the UK. My mum never changed hers in the 70s, almost none of my friends growing up had a "family name", and I never even considered changing mine.

Going forward into the next generation is a bit trickier, but again I'd say:

Not your circus/monkeys, let them figure it out.

If it were up to me, I've always favoured a sort of more egalitarian twist on the Spanish system: so women would carry forward the matrilineal name, and men the patrilineal one. So practically for me it means my grandkids via my DD would have my surname with her future partners', and through my DSs would have my DH's names, with their future partners'. Confusing but also... simple? 😆

I just picked one part of my double barrelled maiden name to double barrel my married surname with my husband’s. It was important that I didn’t lose my surname to me, my husband took my surname too and our kids have it too. I assume they’ll do whatever they like if they marry, and would actively encourage it.

I’d pick Hedges-Perry personally!

Neither sound great. Go for Baby Perry, that's the nicer name.

Interesting. I think they work extremely well together. Both ways.

Hedges-Perry

If I had to choose I'd say perry-hedges but if I were being honest sometimes two names don't really work for double barrelling and I think this is one of those times. Neither sounds great and in this instance I would work to agree to using one over the other or coming up with a new surname.

It depends which first name you pick, but Perry Hedges is going to work better in most cases. Wouldn’t worry about the cigarette brand, it’s not going to mean a whole bunch to their peers.

Hedges-Perry is easier to say.