Hyphenated names

[GirlOnATrainToShite]

AIBU

SIL just had her 1st baby and gave her a really beautiful name and middle name which now I have seen written down I realise they have hyphenated.

It it just me or is this not a massive PITA having a hyphenated name for form filling, it's a mouthful and will inevitably be shortened whether you want it or not?

Pick one name FFs!

I have noticed it's getting quite popular.

Any opinion on anything is going to piss someone off?
No. Saying you find a group of people tedious might anger that particular group though.

What's the point of posting on a forum?
I find plenty of reasons to post, insulting a specific group is not usually one of them.
If I was hell-bent on insulting, the fact they object would not invalidate the forum for me.

I have a double barrell surname and it's a pita so would never inflict that on a child. I went to school with an Emma-Jayne who just got called Imogen. I also met a Patsy-Anne and Billy-Jo-Jean through work. Every time someone mentioned them I could hear country and western music in my ears.

In France, hyphenated names are as common as "single" name. They are not posh, or "chav" they are just names, even if you are a Marie-Antoinette. If you are offended by other cultural choices, too bad.

I can't decide if it's just lazy or plain rude to find that a longer first name is too much effort and to have the cheek to want to change someone's first name because it's not of your liking.

This thread really takes the biscuit on ridiculous issue.

well there i was minding my own business, giving my daughter a hyphenated first name and SHOCK HORROR, the second part is Mae too. If i only i had spent less time choosing a name i really loved the sound of and more time worrying what other people thought eh?!

I wish we knew what name some of the posters have chosen (or would have chosen) for their offfsprings. I bet it would be very amusing.

I wish we knew what name some of the posters have chosen

Me too .

Tbf I'd presume a Marie-Sixtine to be posher than Yao-Elvis in my DS's class...

I wonder why Mae is always the popular form of spelling in a double barrell name? It just looks wrong

In France, hyphenated names are as common as "single" name

No, they are not. They are not uncommon, that is true, but by no measure are they are as common as a single name.

I don't think hyphenated names are narcissistic , they were also common in the past: Ann-Marie, Sarah-Jane, Emma-Louise I don't think they are anything new.

I don't know why it's any different to shortening a long name - I find people who don't like that a bit anal too tbh

How inconvenient for you that Samantha/William/Christopher/Elizabeth/Pamela might want to be addressed by their own full and proper names.

Anyone who shortens someone else's name, or gives them a nickname, without their consent is beyond rude.

My DS (6) has a lot of girls in his year group with hyphenated first names, Amy-May, Evie-Lynn, Isla-Sue, Lilly-Sue. I’m not a fan but each to their own.

I have a hyphenated name, it's fairly short though, only three syllables in total so not a faff to say. I am fine with being called a shortened version of it too though.

None of my other siblings do, it's just a name my parents heard and liked, I don't see it as narcissistic.

I have a hyphenated first name. By the age of four I had decided that the full version was too cutesy (repeated 'ee' sounds) and preferred using just the first part. My mother tried to insist that the full name was used when I started school, but since I was a blunt child who would respond by telling teachers I didn't like it, that didn't last long.

I was very pleased when I discovered that there is in fact no hyphen on my birth certificate! So now the overly twee add-on is just a disused middle name. YANBU to think hyphenated names can be a nuisance, OP, although lots of people obviously choose them for cultural/personal reasons and like them. It depends on the name in question, really.

In France, hyphenated names are as common as "single" name
No, they are not. They are not uncommon, that is true, but by no measure are they are as common as a single name.

Well, yes they are. Jean-Paul, Jean-Francois, Marie-Anne, Marie-Laure, Anne-Sophie..You might find less "Paul-Emile (Victor)" than "Pierre-Yves", but they are everywhere, and most of them have no "posh" connotation whatsoever.

I was very nearly called Marie-Laure. I might use it for my dd! My boss in Paris was a Marie-Christine. One of her pals was Pierre-Yves. His ds was Jean-Marie. That is a little unfortunate given the national Front's leader in recent years, but it's a good old fashioned name.

While i was at school, for some reason a hyphen was added between my first and middle name..4 syllables in total and all the teachers would call me it, never corrected them as I didn't mind..sounded fine. I'm not a huge fan of them though..gave my daughter a double barrel surname which I regretted shortly after..I tend to use the first part only for everything that's not 'official'.

I think hyphenated names in France are a generational thing. Your Jean-Michels and Jean-Marcs are pushing fifty, your Anne-Sophies and Marie-Céciles are mid-thirties. I don't see as many among the younger generations.

Well, yes they are

No they categorically are not. You can check the stats for names online if you like.

What an odd thing to get annoyed about!

It's not exactly a new or unusual thing. It just sounds like you want a chance to snipe at your SIL really. I don't especially like all my nieces' and nephews' names but I also recognise that it's none of my business.

I probably wouldn't choose a hyphenated name myself, but it has absolutely no impact on me if other people do. I don't agree that people with hyphenated names only ever get called by the first one, either - some do but plenty don't. I know a few people through work and extended family with hyphenated first names and the split is pretty even.

No they categorically are not. You can check the stats for names online if you like.

Then define "common" because we are clearly not talking about the same thing. And yes, I have checked the stats, my DH is French so I did some research to chose my children's names.

CamperVamp - I had read the whole thread and it is a good job that I had donned my hard hat as I suggested I'd need to! By the way it's "know" not "no".

Do you really need a definition? PP said that hyphenated names were as common as non hyphenated names. That would mean that 50% of all names in France are hyphenated. This is not true. Ergo, pp was wrong.
Surprised that needs explaining but happy to help.

existentialmoment
Well done you, pat yourself on the back. Are you happy about today's small victory.

Anyway, people see hyphenated names the same way they seen on hyphenated names, don't feel the need to shorten them, don't feel they are either chav or posh, the perception is the same for both.
And breathe.