Are hyphenated/double first names really that bad?

You’ve got some lovely names on you non-hyphenated list. I would go for one of those - Julianna and Stella are my favourites.

I think it really depends on the name e.g. old school Catholic hyphenated names like Anne-Marie or Mary-Rose seem quite classic and respectable. It's the newfangled, trendy, strangely spelt hyphenated names that tend to have a negative image.

Absolutely hate hyphenated names, but it's not my baby, it's yours.

What about Marianne? Marianna? gorgeous and if your husband is very religious he might like it.

Rosanna (various spellings) also very pretty.

women With these names usually use them in full in my experience.

shame about Anna-Kate which is pretty but once you hear annotate…

Juliana and Stella are great too.

You should move to France btw I rarely meet a French guy with just one name!

Yeah, I wouldn’t hyphenate here -

I’d go for Stella, Katherine or Julianna

Anna-Kate - there’s no need to hyphenate it - just call her Anna Kate - I’d go for Anna Katherine as a full name

Anne-Marie - same, Anne Marie is very established, no need for a hyphen

Joy-Anna - she’ll get called Joy or it’ll be mistaken for Joanna whether you use a hyphen or not, so no point

Alaina - it’ll get mistaken for Helena or Eleanor so just pick one of those

Camilla - nice

Galilee - don’t be silly

Jodi(e) - no - 90s and a bit low rent (v low rent with an i)

Julianna - lovely

Katherine - lovely

Lori - no, it has a hyphen vibe / low rent

Lorraine - no, it’s very 50s naff. Too early to be revived

Madeleine - nice but Maddy isn’t and it might be hard to avoid

Rosemary - lovely but she’ll end up one of a million Rosies

Stella - great

I actually know of a child with 3 hyphenated first names. It’s along the lines of Skye-Hollie-Jane

as far as I know she just goes by Skye

The only people I know with hyphenated names who went by their full names were:
Anne-Marie
Ceri-Anne
Sammy-Jo
Sally-Beth

more random names combos such as Emma-Michelle and Kate-Lorraine didn’t seem to stick and these people went by their first names.

so based on that, if you’re going to go for a hyphenated one, I’d choose a well known combo if you don’t want the first name dropped. So not Anna-Kate

also not Lorraine or Galilee

I think double barrelled names are fine, and some of those are really pretty, You say you will call her by her full name at all times. Do you mean that YOU and maybe her dad want to call her her full name, or do you mean you don't want OTHER people to shorten it? Or her to chose to shorten it in the future? If you just mean you would want to shorten it fine, if you don't want others to shorten it, especially other kids when she goes to school etc, chose a short name that is not double barrelled. Choosing a name which is long and has two actual independent words in it, invites shortening. Come on, people shorten long names to bizarre things that aren't really words, there's no way they won't shorten something that actual shortens to a pretty and easy to say known name!

I work in a school (non-teaching role) and most years we have girls with hyphenated first names. Currently we have a Viola-Rae, Georgia-Mae and Harper-Drew - none of the girls are called by their entire name. In fact I didn't even realise their names were hyphenated, until I saw them written down!! So they are referred to as Viola, Georgia and Harper. My friend's daughter is Ella-Mae but is always called Ella. As a parent you may call your daughter by her full name, but I can guarantee most people won't and even the child themselves won't bother either.

Anne-Marie is vaguely OK. Rest of hyphenated names are dreadful.

And would you seriously consider calling a child Galilee? 🥴

Yes hyphenated names are hideous, but I also don’t like any of your single name choices

I used to work with a lady who gave her daughter a hyphenated name - it was a 4 syllable name hyphenated with Rose. She was forever correcting people and used to get really pissed off about it when they only used the first part, or even worse, used a shortened form of the first part of the name.
From that anecdotal perspective, if you do choose a hyphenated name you (and your child) will be correcting people for their entire life…

As you can tell from my username, I think Annemarie is fine (it’s not my real name but I’ve known a couple in RL of different nationalities and they were lovely women) - there is really no need for a hyphen though as it’s an established full name just like the reverse Marianne, so if you choose it I think most people wouldn’t use the hyphen when spelling it.

I suspect Joy- Anna will often get confused with similar sounding Joanna (as that’s much better known) so that would also be a no go for me. If you really want a hyphenated name then I think Anna-Kate is your best option, it’s not a commonplace hyphenated name here but Anna and Kate are both nice classic names in their own right and I can’t see the hyphen causing any real issues.

Personally of your non hyphenated options I only like Madeleine, Camilla, Katherine and Stella, although Julianna is fine if a bit frilly for my taste (Juliet or Julia are much more classic). Alaina has a pretty sound but will be a spelling nightmare- she’ll get Elena or Alana as they are much better known.

Galilee is very religious sounding (and rarely used in the UK), Lori is very American (not really used much here as “Lorry” is a truck), Lorraine and Rosemary would probably be in their 60’s in the UK, and Jodie likely in her late 30’s or 40’s (ie. all 3 are dated names here so not my personal taste- I like something more classic).

I named my daughter a hyphenated first name that quickly got shortened by her big brother to a nickname based on the first part of the name... It has stuck and followed her through the years, through school, where she introduces herself using only the first part of her name, and then proceeds to fall back to the nickname again. Her full name is just too long (I wanted to honor her grandfather and auntie) and in hindsight it never really should have happened, maybe first and second name.. But not hyphenated.

I know a Jane-Marie who always goes by both names. I think as PP’s have said, the reception will really depend on the name.

I like Anna-Kate and Anne-Marie.

I love Lorraine! It would have been on my list but my husband wasn’t a fan. Daughter is Marcella instead :)

They're awful and a pain in the arse for her. Just choose one name and a middle name.

I know a Corey-Dylan which makes no sense to me at all.

I have a friend in her 20’s named Anne-Marie and she’s always that, if someone said Anne, I’d have no clue who they meant!

What about Mariella?

I think most people will just use the first part. My ss is Lucy-Anne and no one ever calls her anything other than Lucy. I don’t think most people even realise that’s her full name.