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Original poster

Why do people double barrel first names?

137 replies

FlawlessFuckup · 27/01/2018 22:29

Inspired by the ‘somebody explain Nando’s to me’ thread to find answers to my own personal mysteries.

I just don’t get it. I think hyphens look ugly, and most people only get called the first half of the name anyway, Sofia for Sofia-Rose etc.

I personally feel hyphenating names with a made up misspelt half-name like -Mai is odd. But I find it even odder when people hyphenate two ‘normal’ names, that have no obvious connection to each other, like Sofia-Rose, to use the same example.

I just don’t get it. Could someone explain it to me? Why would/did you do this? Is it because you couldn’t decide between two names, or another reason?

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DotCottonDotCom · 27/01/2018 22:32

Mine was double barrelled and I recently legally changed it to my nickname . I hated it. It sounded so , council, for lack of a better word.
My parents couldn’t decide what they liked best.

greendale17 · 27/01/2018 22:38

I hated it. It sounded so , council, for lack of a better word.

^This

DullAndOld · 27/01/2018 22:40

because they like the sound of it I suppose....
I knew a Lesley Anne and a Tina Jane years ago so it's not a new thing.

wheresthel1ght · 27/01/2018 22:43

Because we chose to and our kid our choice frankly. Dd is either known as her nickname from being a baby or by her full double barrelled name. She loves it and gets very cross with people who call her by just the first bit of her name.

EggsonHeads · 27/01/2018 22:45

We did it. The first names are the ones we call our children and the second names are shared. Like Marie Antoinette but the other way around with a hyphen. We thought that it would provide our child with a second option if they wanted it. It also means that we have a collective name for them e.g. Think instead of saying the children we say the Vincents. We did it with our first because we couldn't decide on a bane and we just did it again with our second. I've seen it a lot so it never occurred to me not to do it. Both names are normal names not 'council' names if that makes a difference. So like Hugo-Tarquin Atticus Jones and Owen-Tarquin Atticus Jones*. We call them Hugo and Owen (or nickname of Hugo and Owen) but The Tarquins collectively. So here come the Tarquins or Battle cry of the Tarquins. I guess it's a bit weird and a bit funny but we are a bit weird and like to make fun of ourselves so there you go.

*Not their real names obviously.

Ummmmgogo · 27/01/2018 22:49

@eggs that is the cutest idea ever! I wish I'd thought of it when I was pregnant with my first 😂

op. this is not a real mystery. you think hyphens look bad others think thhey are nice. that's it really.

DullAndOld · 27/01/2018 22:49

" Both names are normal names not 'council' names if that makes a difference."

that's nice...Hmm

EggsonHeads · 27/01/2018 22:51

@Dullandold that was in reference to dotcottondotcom

MrsHathaway · 27/01/2018 22:52

Eggs That's really interesting! Thank you for sharing.

The people I know who have done it are all RC and several are also French. They are as likely to double-barrel boys as girls. There is a strong Catholic tradition here (within commute of Liverpool and with 75 years of Polish immigration). So I would think Catholic before I thought "council" - but what a horribly dismissive way to categorise people the latter is.

SingaSong12 · 27/01/2018 22:53

My parents did it to me - not sure why. I think it's pretty but wish they hadn't as it's a bit of a pain in forms and some online forms won't accept the hyphen.

Callamia · 27/01/2018 22:56

The only person I know with a hyphenated name is a fairly posh Sarah-Jane.

stopbeingadramallama · 27/01/2018 22:57

I hate it.

Demiguisee · 27/01/2018 22:59

I've heard Abigail-Kimberly. Seems so pointless as she's never going to be called that fully on real life, it might as well just be a middle name.

Fuckit2017 · 27/01/2018 23:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BrazzleDazzleDay · 27/01/2018 23:01

My name would be much easier to pronounce if it was hyphenatted.

thepatchworkcat · 27/01/2018 23:02

Just to mention I don’t Mai is a misspelling - isn’t it possibly the Welsh or Irish version?!

thepatchworkcat · 27/01/2018 23:03

don’t think

Myddognearlyatethedeliveryman · 27/01/2018 23:03

I knew a nice woman and her equally canny dsis, they had 6 dc each and all had double names!! Used to blow my mind hearing them at the shops!! Terry-Lee was one lad, Tony - Paul another. And one set of siblings had double barrelled surnames -

DullAndOld · 27/01/2018 23:05

well there is for example the Welsh name Valmai but its pronounced my not may

EggsonHeads · 27/01/2018 23:05

@MrsHathaway I didn't realise it was a catholic tradition-not catholic ourselves and have never had that assumption from others (husband and children are not the right ethnicity for people to assume Catholicism) but children may find it nice if they choose to convert. I think the whole 'council' thing is only used by people from that end of the socio-economic spectrum. I've never heard it in real life and I don't think that dotcotton meant any harm as she was referring to herself.

FintyTin · 27/01/2018 23:08

I think it depends on whether the names 'go' together. Daisy-May sounds far less clumsy than Harriet-Poppy, for example.
Please don't do it if your surname is also hyphenated, though!

JPTB · 27/01/2018 23:11

It's cumbersome, a faff and I don't like it. But each to their own - I doubt everyone like the names my kids have! (And I don't care! And I fully expect people who hyphenate know full well that it's not received well by most people and they don't care either.)

Even a total of four syllables split into two never flows as well as a four-syllable name.
Ella-Louise is cumbersome. Elizabeth is lovely.
Anna-Beth is cumbersome, even though it's shorted than Elizabeth.
I've never seen a double-barrelled British name that feels comfortable, to my ears.
Somehow it does sound ok when the French do it! Grin

Of the people I know who have done it,
One - picked both grandmothers' names and mushed them together (Bizarrely, it could have worked much better as one name that was already a name - like Annabelle, but they called her Belle-Anna)
Two - Wanted to be unique (probably isn't though, the second name is one of those ubiquitous -Mae -Lily -Rose type fillers)
Three - parents couldn't decide and couldn't compromise. Though I always think that the parent who got their choice placed first is the winner!

The vast majority are girls, but I do know four boys with double-barrelled names. One gets shortened to his initials, they call him OJ, or 'Ohhjjj'!

feral · 27/01/2018 23:13

I have a double barrelled first name. It's German.

I don't care for it but it is actually a proper name. Like Marie-Claire is.

I don't care for random double barrelling much but each to their own.

llangennith · 27/01/2018 23:14

I know an Ava-Grace and a Lily-Anne. Why ffs???

SuperBeagle · 27/01/2018 23:52

It's not a new thing.

Anne-Marie, Lisa Marie, Sarah-Jane, John Paul etc. all very popular in the past.

I have a Lily Rose. No hyphen. It's because we wanted Lily but it clashed with our surname as a standalone name. So she's called Lily 99% of the time, but when her name is read or said aloud in full, she's Lily Rose L, which sounds much better.