Can we have a double first name without a hyphen?

[BoraThirch]

For example I want Betsy May not Betsy-May, but May is still the first name not middle name. Full name would be Betsy May Louise Smith but first name/called Betsy May.

No

BetsyMay Louise Smith
Betsy Louise Smith sounds better.

You can.
Don't though.

Yes. Betsy-May or BetsyMay are both awful. Betsy May is ok.
Just Betsy is heaps better.

Yes. I call DS by his first 2 names (which aren't hyphenated). Not all the time, but certainly on a daily basis.

DH wouldn't let me use my favourite name as his first name,this is my way around it

I had a girl in my form for 5 years who had this. The mum was absolutely insistent that everyone used both names, brought it up in every conversation I had with her for 5 years. The girl had dropped the second name very early on and didn't care at all!

You CAN call your child pretty much whatever you like. Registrar may advise you against the name Arsehole though.
It's whether you SHOULD. A quick search should throw up just how much MN seems to hate hyphenated or double names. Too cutesy by far.

I have such a name, it's an arse.

I get called the first bit by default until people know me.
Just add the feckin' hyphen!
I often add it myself to ensure I'm called my name.

You may also be subjecting her to a lifetime of computers rejecting her name as "invalid" because of the space....

There was a girl in college with me like that. We called her "Betsy May Actually" because every single lecturer/roll call/whatever would say "Betsy Smith" and she'd say "Betsy May Actually"

If you really want Betsy-May then you need the hyphen to show that May isn't the middle name. You'll have a whole world of pain explaining that "no, her name isn't Betsy" otherwise.

My dd has two names and I know it sounds daft but it has only just occurred to me in the last few weeks that there is no hyphen. She is always known by both names and doesn't like it if people shorten it.

I personally dislike hyphenated names, BUT if you want her to be called by both names then I do think you have to hyphen it. Otherwise people will assume May is a middle name and drop it.

I have a Lily Rose with no hyphen.

No one has assumed Rose is her middle name, because who gets called by their first and middle name regularly?

I know two Sarah Janes who have no hyphen as well, and no one assumes Jane is the middle name.

It's not illegal but I wouldn't do it. It looks a bit silly and everyone would end up dropping the May part whether it was part of the first name or used as a middle name. I don't like double first names but it's whatever you like i suppose.

I have a hyphen in my first name and hate it. Always advise against hyphenated names they are such a pain filling in form on the PC, spelling it out to people etc

I have a non-hyphenated double first name and while I just use the first part on the whole I like to have the flexibility of having it all should I need it.

I know a Louise Sarah. It always seems like a mouthful and bit odd to have two first names, like her parents couldn't agree on one.

Why do so many people want to sound like they come from a farm in the Appalachians?

I have a hyphen in my first name and it's bloody awful. People don't "get" the two first names things and I'm finding increasingly people don't know what a bloody hyphen is. Explaining that I have 2 first names and no middle name got old before I'd even left school

I don't think it really matters, but Betsy May Louise sounds ridiculous
May and Louise just don't gel together. It should be either Betsy May or Betsy Louise

I know a few people called Ceri Ann who don't have a hyphen but are always called the full name. I think it's fine.

Louise is a middle name so it doesn't really matter if first and middle names don't "gel", does it? Middle names are rarely used.

It works with a few names, eg Mary Ann or John Paul, but not many.

I think you can get away with for some names where it's been common to link them such as :

Sarah Jane
Carol Ann
Sarah Louise
John Paul

It's a bit harder with "newer" combinations.

Elizabeth Louise Surname gets my vote :)