Double barrelled names future generations?

[Menonut]

This is just a light hearted post really, but has anything thought about future generations with everyone deciding to double barrel names now?
Jane Smith & Fred Jones get married and become Mr & Mrs Smith-Jones they then have kids. One of the Smith-Jones kids wants to then get married to a Williams-Taylor, what do we end up with then? The Smith-Jones-Williams-Taylor’s?

🙄

I think they take one of each and create a new double barrel e.g. Smith-Williams or Jones-Taylor.

Of flip a coin and stick with one name.

Or make a new name for their family.

I know a kid with a triple-barrelled name.

He was originally Master Smith-Jones but his parents split up and Mummy Smith remarried a Mr Williams.

The kid is now called Master Smith-Jones-Williams

If only there were cultures where double surnames are the norm then we could emulate them.

Hint: have a look at Spain

they can both barrel, they can choose one each to barrel together, they can create a new name, they can keep their own names, one can take the others name, there are loads of solutions, as double barrelling isn’t a recent thing

Look at the Fiennes family. They actually have a triple barrelled name! Though just the one name seems to be used publicly

My kids can do exactly this. They have two surnames, no hyphen and once they get to be adults they can decide what they do with their name same as I chose what to do with mine. O do have South American heritage so the concept of multiple generations having multiple surnames is not a big shocker and I've never found it especially hard to trace family trees. I am pleased with the changes on Spanish naming convention which means people can choose matrilineal or patrilineal last names

My Dc will definitely just keep adding all the names and my grandchildren will have 8 hyphenated surnames.

Obviously.

If this is a problem, I’m not worried because this question crops up on every single thread about women changing their names or giving their children their name, so we can be assured that, yes, plenty of people have thought about it (along with the entire Spanish nation ) so hopefully some solution can be found sometime during the next generation.

<sigh>

They choose which, if any, of the names they want to use.

And no, this is not a a clever argument in favour of children automatically taking their father’s name.

The whole surname thing needs shaking up.

Everyone just passes down names without thought. What is the point of being called Cooper if you don’t make barrels , or Russel if your hair is black not red?

I propose that at 18 or 21 everyone adopts a name that makes sense. Related to character, appearance, job, talent or hobby .

It would be so much easier to identify people in social situations.

God imagine picking your own surname at 18. I was such a pretentious twerp I'd probably have a terribly embarrassing surname now! Bronte-Caballero or something

I don’t know anyone who had double barrelled their names. My stepsons recently married and they didn’t, nor did my three niece/nephews who all gut married within the last four years. So where is this trend?

Less so married couples I think but parents giving their children two surnames . I am married but didn't change my name and our kids have my husband's and my surnames

You're right! Nobody in the last 40 years has thought of this!

I know someone one with the surname along the lines of Smith-Jones Wilson-Cooper.

Except the actual names are longer than those!
Their first name is hyphenated too!

I always wonder this too OP!

I think it’s a bit unfair to expect the double-barrelled offspring to pick their favourite name to keep when they come to get married - they are going to end up upsetting the one parent whose name they choose to drop. Parents are just pushing the problem onto their child in my opinion.

For those saying the OP’s question has been asked before, so what? I haven’t seen it and presumable neither has the OP. Are things not allowed to be asked again on MN? Just scroll on by if you aren’t interested.

Had to change my name as potentially outing. My gran, a woman born in the early 1900s had 4 surnames added to her name . So think something like ‘Lou-Belle Smith -Jones Thomas Morgan’ She was Mrs Morgan, as my Grandfather was Joe Morgan.

But my god , the officially paperwork that came in her name.

There’s a reason neither my mum, nor her brothers had middle names.

My Scandinavian family take mums surname, so Dad is the odd one out.

No need to take husband/ fathers name, but keep it simple.

My parents double barrelled their names when they married, 40+ years ago
When I got married it made no sense for me to just choose one of the names, as they were both absolutely my name.
So I just swapped them both for my dh's surname, and life is much simpler when booking restaurants, GP appointments and hotel stays. I imagine my mother is turning in her grave though.

If my child gets married I'd love for them and their new partner to choose an entirely new surname for their new family

Have you heard of Spain or Chile?

they are going to end up upsetting the one parent whose name they choose to drop. Parents are just pushing the problem onto their child in my opinion.

IME parents who have not followed the default / social norm are also happy to acknowledge that their Dc's name is theirs to do with what they will, and will not wish to swap the expectation of 'tradition' (man's name) with any other pressure or expectation.

My Dc can do what they like and I won't be t all upset.

My children have a hyphenated name. At every transition point in their lives we have given them the opportunity to drop one of the names and we have always said the it’s a completely free choice and we won’t be remotely upset-which is true. They are adults now and are still happy with the hyphen.

Incidentally-we don’t use double-barrelled. It was a term invented by Punch as a piece of unkind mockery, and were waging a one family campaign against its use!!

My kid is double-barrelled. I kept my name on marriage, the idea of taking my husband’s name repels me to my core and it would have been a cold day in hell my child didn’t share my name.

I assume upon marriage, if a marriage happens, he’ll work something out with his spouse-to-be. I don’t mind if he drops one or both. I don’t mind if he changes his first name! A name is a gift but you aren’t obligated to keep gifts.

I also think about this more than I should 😆