Foreign surnames

[bankofengland]

Does anyone/ anyones DCs have a foreign surname? Has it ever caused any problems whether it be spelling problems or any kind of discrimination for example. Did you ever consider not giving your DC this name and maybe giving them another family name that you felt would make life easier for them?

yes we gave them both for that reason, now they are known as my name, they can choose when they are older, a difficult foreign name could be a nightmare, mine is bad enough.

Goralka - that's what we're considering but weren't sure if we're being a bit over cautious. You say your DC are known as your name - did you hyphenate or not?

on their birth certs it is hyphenated but when they enrolled in secondary school his just got dropped off somehow - which suits us now for one reason and another.

which means their NI numbers will arrive with just my name on I suppose....

And has just using one name caused any confusion at all - i.e. do you have to always say 'it's Smith-Jones but known as Smith?' Don't mean to be nosey but this could be the way we're heading.

no not really - a bit confusing sometimes for booking flights as both names never fit in and it has to be as the names appear on the passports - so you get all of my name and half of his.....
for example in the doctors I just say my name and they go with that as they cannot be bothered to even try pronouncing his anyway....

I think when they enrolled in secondary school I just put the one name and they never questioned it. Some schools have an option for real name, and name the child is known by, now I recall.

Yes they do, but no, it has never caused any problems, other than repeated spellings!

I suppose it depends on the name - Szceczpinckiewicz or Bosco?
(no that is not their name!)

we have foreign surname, dh is dutch. We all have his name. I have to spell it all the time, although it is actually quite simple, and it occasionally often gets mispronounced, but before I got married I had a normal name with a less common spelling, so I had to spell that and it was often misspelt.

We don't get any discrimination. Would be surprised actually if we did. I would have thought that there are enough unusual surnames around these days.
one family at school has pretty long polish name, her dh is of polish descent. No-one blinks an eyelid, but we rarely use her surname

I would hate to change my name just is case it was a problem with someone.

I'm interested to read the replies, we are thinking of giving our dc my dp's name because my British name would stand out in the country we live. Unfortunately having a foreign name here can be a disadvantage :(

Exactly what Steppemum said!

Same as Steppemum here too. Even down to the more common maiden name with more than one spelling.