Double barrelled surname help

[Bluebell5000]

Hello,
we are trying to decide how to name our little girl due in the summer. I’ve kept my surname Halliday due to my profession and proud to keep my ancestral Scottish heritage. My husband is a Nelson.

Question is do we go for Halliday-Nelson or Nelson-Halliday or because poor girl could end up with a long surname would it be better to add Halliday as a middle name next to one middle name?

your opinions will be greatly appreciated!

Nelson Halliday sounds nice. I would choose a shortish first name though.

I think it depends upon the first and other middle name you choose. I like the sound of Halliday-Nelson personally but if her full name ends up quite long, I might be tempted to put Halliday as a middle name.

maybe one thing to consider, though, is if you travel abroad alone with her for whatever reason in future, are any of the options easier to manage? I don’t know personally but are there any issues or is any additional documentation needed if you try to travel with your child that has a different surname from you? Just a thought.

I prefer Holliday Nelson.

Another option would be to use Halliday as the surname with Nelson as a second middle name (this is what we did - with different names obviously!)

Halliday is definitely the nicer name imo.

I think it depends how many syllables the first name has.

If a short first name, then I would go Halliday-Nelson.

If a longer first name, then Nelson-Halliday.

Halliday- Nelson sounds better to my ears.

Both sound fine. Don't use one of the names as a second middle name-it will just sink without trace.

Why isn’t Halliday with middle name Nelson an option? Halliday is much nicer than Nelson and more unusual. If you want both (we had both), then Halliday-Nelson flows better in my opinion, but it’s a close one.

I voted for Nelson-Halliday, but I think the other one sounds good too!

Halliday-Nelson scans really well. A dactyl followed by a spondee.

Halliday Nelson sounds better. If you do both as surname but without hyphen she has more flexibility on whether to just use one or the other.
i wouldn’t make it a middle name, I find that strange unless it happens to also be something that you would use as a first name. As a.nod to your surname you could use Hallie as a middle name

I agree that Halliday-Nelson sounds better.

Halliday-Nelson is the order that I thinks sounds best.
I prefer Firstname Halliday Nelson - as hyphens are not great.
Can you have a surname Halliday Nelson without the hyphen?

Can you just have Halliday for your first child and Nelson for the second child's surname, should you have one?

Both Nelson and Halliday are great surnames.

No one uses middle names so you want Halliday-Nelson

It may get shortened to Nelson on occasion. This happens to my DD's last name. The reason my DD name is double barrelled is because her dad has one of the top 10 most common names in the country. The main issue we had due to my name's origin was whether to use a hyphen or not. My DP insisted on the hyphen so it didn't look like a middle name.

Another couple we know all chose to use just the wife's last name to use rather than the husband's due to his name being extremely common and her name dying out if they didn't use it.

I think Nelson-Halliday is the best.

But, if you want a shorter name that represents both of you, how abour Hallison?

Both lovely names, both in my family too! Halliday is a Borders name and much less common than Nelson.

I prefer Halliday-Nelson, but if you think the double barrel would be too much, I'd stick Nelson in the middle as a middle name and use Halliday as the surname as it's just...better

Why no option for Halliday only, with middle name Nelson? Halliday is a far nicer and more distinctive name.

That's a very long surname! Just use yours, you grew her!

I have two teenage DDs and they both have mine and DP's surnames double barrelled. Our surnames are double syllable and single syllable, so we put the double one first (my partner's name) and mine second. We deliberately gave them both shortish first names (two syllables each) and no middle name.

I prefer Halliday Nelson but use a hyphen if you want both used I made the mistake of giving Dd mine and exes surname with no hyphen and everyone now only uses his as I was told without the hyphen written down it looks like a middle name so mines basically been erased that probably won't be an issue for you though it's only an issue because my ex isn't involved but still I would use a hyphen.

Nelson is such an illustrious name that I think it'd be a shame to hyphenate it.

The double-barrel version also a real mouthful either way.

Halliday as a second middle name, yes, that works.

E.g. Horatia Jane Halliday Nelson.

Just use one. Whenever I see this I think so when this child has kids they add another hyphen ? 😂 when does it end? I also assume one parent has some kind of insecurity. ‘We are both very very important’ 🙄

As someone born with a double barrelled surname I can honestly say it doesn't matter because your kids will hate writing it and drop one of the names in school.

I understand people wanting their kids to have both their names but I've always hated it and the problems it brings, names don't fit in spaces on forms, if buying online some websites won't recognise a double barrelled surname and you keep getting an error code, alphabetically some people will go with the first surname others with the last etc.