Patronymic surname ?

[dontcallmedeliah]

Me and DP seem to be going around in circles.
Either way DCs are having DPs surname.
He is from Iceland and they still have patronymic system of surnames.

But obviously that sytem isn't used in the UK.

If we used the 'UK' system, DCs will have his surname.

If we used the Icelandic - patronymic system DCs surnames would be DPfirstname with either sson (for a boy) or dóttir (for a girl) added on to the name.

Basically do you think it would be confusing to have DCs with different surnames to both of us and for siblings of different genders to have diferent surnames?

I think it's potentially confusing if you plan to live and bring your children up in the UK and you may find you and they have to explain it often what about having DPsson Dosurname together so DPsson is essentially a middle name?
Having said that people get used to names easily once they've been explained.

That should say DPsurname.

I think that once you explain, people will get used to it.

Not confusing at all once explained I should think. And only potentially confusing for the short time they are children together and would be 'expected' to have the same surname.

If you use the patronymic, you could also e.g. give a girl your name with -dottir on the end, thus making it fairer - as the children wouldn't have the same surname anyway. Depends on your name of course, but it could work quite well!

nope not difficult at all, my best friend at school had a polish father, so her surname ended 'ska' and her brothers 'ski', the school did get it wrong a few times in the beginning, but it never was a big problem, they just might have to correct a couple of times. I actually remember it being really cool and special!

i dont know why people say its confusing, it is not, arabs, somalis, north africans, bengalis, sikhs, all have different system of surnames, some are the fathers first name, some are based on sex, but it is not remarkable.

Even in Irish, the surnames of boys and girls would be different. (ni/nic; o/mac plus Surname, plus grammatical changes in the surname springing from genitive case and masculine/ feminine complexity)

The school got the ending of DD4's Russian friend's family's name wrong too for a few years but finally figured it out. They gave them all the -eva ending as that was the DD's surname.

Agree with LizzieChickens, people will get used to it once you explain. I expect a lot of people will say what a good idea it is too :)

I think using the proper patronymic name is a great idea and if they have it from birth, it won't seem strange, whereas tinkering with the name later or giving them multiple names might be.

I was at school with a Russian girl who had anglicized her name (dropped the feminine ending from her surname and also changed her first name slightly) Having stalked looked her up on FBook I can see she's reverted to her Russian name and I thought, good on her!

Of all the systems, this one (with the HUGE clue to the native English ear or "sun" and "dotter") is exceptionally easy to understand. I wouldn't hesitate if that's what you want to do. IME children love explaining what their names mean, how they work, why they have them.

Sson and dottir... How clever... How did I not twig this meant son and daughter?

My children will have different surnames to each other in a similar manner as the ending of the surname changes to indicate gender and slightly different to our parental surname. Hopefully it will be fine!

I'm sure it will be fine. But equally, if you don't want to follow the Icelandic system it seems fair enough to just use your DP's surname in the English fashion.

does your partner particularly want to use the patronymic system?

if not then tbh i would just use his surname. only because I can't see any real reason for making life more difficult for yourself!
while I agree with everyone else that other people will get used to it, you may well all get tired of explaining it and having to insist that yes, you are all related and that yes they are siblings and yes, the yare your children etc etc etc!