I've met my first ever double double barrel named child!

[llamajohn]

I wondered when it would happen, when two people with double barrel names have a child.

I met Alice Smith-Jones Williams-Taylor*

*Not real names, but you get the gist ... In fact her surname is actually longer than the above!

My dc were double barreled 30 years ago.

OP would I be right in guessing that this child wouldn’t be described as “posh”?

Surely we'd just nudge towards the Spanish system (where just about everyone is double-barrelled) whereby the DC of the family all have the same surname, taking one half from the father and one half from the mother

Both parents pass on 1 surname to their children I think the fathers name is usually the 2nd part of the surname, so John's mam in this case would have been Smith.

So Mary Ryan Murphy married John Smith Roche

Their child is Sarah Murphy Roche. I think!

I had though parents here that were double barrel double barrel would choose 2 surnames between them.

Im guessing they are posh. The chavs have double barreled forenames, would love to see a double double forename.

my SIL and his partner have had a child... he is the last in his line of shall we say 'waterway' (made up obvs) and she is the last in her line of shall we say 'trainline" (again made up).

they don't want to double barrell childs surname, she is a known professionally as 'trainline' and as she is the last in her line she is adamant she doesnt want to lose her surname.

she wants baby to have her surname...

he is adamant that he does not want to lose his last name so for some bizzare reason he has changed his name too 'water-line' (made up) which is both names incorporated and baby now has the surname 'water-line'??

to me this seems absolute nonesense... i'd love someone to explain it to me

they are both still using their 'birth names' as thats how they are known professionally..

I used to be a Childminder. Over 15 years ago I cared for 2 brothers who had a double-barrelled surname.
Their parents had professional academic careers so wanted the boys to have both their names. Both boys had short one syllable first names, and their surnames were both six letter 2 syllable names which did flow nicely.

But that's not what the op says. This is double-double (quadruple?) barrelling.

And when this dc marries how many names will their dc end up with?!

When this person passes higher education or professional exams, their certificate will have all the writing in a large font and their name either in a tiny font or spread over three lines to fit it all in. Either way it will look ridiculous.

Why? Just.....why?

When you say 'the man', do you mean the husband, or the father?
Patriarchy, either way.
Why should a woman keep her father's name?

I went to university with a girl with a doubled barrelled first name and surname. She went out with someone in the year above with a double barrelled surname. Fortunately they were never serous enough for her to have ever been Amy-Beatrix Cooper-Davies Exley-Farrington.*

*not real names.

This is wrong. Child would be Sarah Ryan Smith - the surname that takes priority is the first one listed, not the one at the very end like in the UK. This is an issue when travelling to certain English-speaking countries, a lot of people default to the last written surname, when that one is in fact the “least important” one of the two.

I agree. Multiple names are kind of cool imo not that I’m especially cool

Why should a woman keep her father's name?

Why is it called her father’s name and not HER name? Do women not have names?

I hate the term maiden name - it’s MY name that I have always been known as. It’s not my dad’s name - it’s mine, and actually made up of both one of my dad’s and one of my mum’s name.

Would I take on another man’s name? No, because I already have mine.

Hahahah

Honestly, I kind of love the fact that the parents will have been in full knowledge that people will think they are being ridiculous and done it anyway - sure, a few computer systems might spit the name back out but is that really a big deal in the grand scheme of things?
Everyone always comes up with silly little 'it will look silly written on envelopes' and 'people will be confused' things to moan about and honestly I think... and? No child has lasting trauma from a tricky name.
(I'm sure someone will come along to tell me actually they had xxx happen because of their name, ignoring the fact loads of us go around with unusual names and it's fine, and there's in fact an entire world out there that sits outside of western naming conventions that manages to function pretty well)

Because your teacher was right and you were wrong. Not all the names have to be passed on to the next generation.

48 letters! Wow. I thought mine and DS1s were long (30 and 29 letters)
No double barrelling either.

I think it's a nice thing to pass on names through the maternal lineage as well. Having multiple names is not a problem, you're not required to call people by their whole legal name in day to day life.

Of course, I also think children should always have the mother's last name, because mothers are the most important parent in most families.

Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (born 29 January 1958) is a British Conservative Party politician, landowner, journalist, and Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dorset between 2010 and 2024.

oh i dunno about trauma.. my other SIL was determined to name their baby with one that could be spelt easily as he says he spent his entire childhood having to tell people how his name was spelt!

Indeed. I’m Spanish. I’ve my mum and dad’s surname. My son is British. He has both our surnames (my dad’s surname is quite long so it takes most of his name 😂). I prefer that to giving up my surname to take some other man’s surname

I work with a double barreled first name double barreled surname colleague so 4 names in total. It's pretentious. She says it's bacause of her heritage. She's born and raised in England.

I hated my double barrelled name when I was a child. Everyone else had easy names to learn how to write and there was me using up every letter in the alphabet twice (slight exaggeration but it felt like it at the time).