Two surnames - why the confusion?

[CuppaTeaJanice]

Myself and DP are both the 'last in line' when it comes to our surnames, so neither of us were prepared to give up our family name and we have given DS both surnames.

This seems to be causing some confusion, particularly at the doctors surgery and health clinics where they seem to want to give DS my surname only. Other places tend to put a hyphen between the names.

Has anybody else given their child 2 surnames (not double-barrelled)?

I can think of a few examples - Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Whatshisname Cougar Mellencamp etc (some may be hyphened or stage names, not sure). It's not that unusual, surely, so why is it causing such confusion and are we going to have to constantly explain his name for his entire childhood?

I thnk the Spanish system is very fair too.

If you were say Phoebe Gillespie Brown in the UK, which of those sur names would you GUESS was the father's?? And which, if you only had space for one sur name on a form would you take to be THE sur name, the first or the second.

Going by the Spanish system it'd be the first sur name... But in the UK I think peple assume the last sur name is the proper sur name. Hence the problem for Spanish fathers living in the UK.

Apparently, because we're all in the EU now, you have to decide on one nationality for your passport. If DH was from USA, for example, she cold have dual nationality.

Blimey, didn't know that. Since when was the EU one nation, exactly? Bloody Brussels.

Pookie, why would anyone want to know which surname was the father's? Why would it matter? And what do you mean THE surname?

Your post sounds like you are very suspicious of people with two surnames and think they are doing something wrong! (No, tell me what your REAL surname is, stop trying to hide it.)

There are lots of people in this country with two surnames, whether double barrelled or not.

My dd has both our surnames, mine first and then my dh's. Her surname is unhyphenated. We haven't had any problems with it thus far.

She can do what she likes when she is older.

I think the whole naming thing blowing people's minds in this day and age is hilaaaaarious - 'why don't you and dh have the same last name? What will your dd do when she gets married? What will her children be called?'

I don't understand what the problem is TBH.
We gave DD both our last names. Not hyphenated, just the last names, and we have no problem - my granny was born in Argentina and that's the way they name babies there also.

"You're going against all the conventions that exist!" BecauseImworthit - not correct actually.
There are many ways of naming one's child, not just your way.

I would assume it's because people think it is her middle name!

So if you are in Spain and you are called something like Maria Grazia Hello
am I right in assuming that Grazia would be your fathers surname, Hello your Mothers, you would be called Maria Grazia and your children would be called Marita Smith Grazia or would they be Marita Smith Hello? And if Maria was really Juan would they be Juan Smith Hello or Juan Smith Grazia.

Have a friend who is married to a Spanish guy whose children are named in this way but had never thought of their children.

LaTrucha, unless the law has changed very recently, then you can have as many european union country nationalities as you like as there is no EU passport scheme, so you can have spanish and british passports or any combo especially as britain is not part of the schengen treaty like spain. my ex's half sister has dual nationality, spanish and british and has 2 passports

I don't get how it works in spain. When you get married do you just keep your own names? Which part of the parent's surname goes to the child - the first or last part?

Yes come on Spanish people come back and tell us how it works.
Please

Oh yeay
who is John Cooper Clark?

Dad's surname goes first, mum's last.
In our culture you would just drop the last name

So Maria Perro Agua and Juan Verde Azul have children. They would be called XXXX Verde Perro?

I think xxx Verde Agua

(Your Spanish is good)

That's right, NA

I just picked random words. I don't think anyone would want to be called Maria Dog Water lol.

Oh of course you drop the Mothers
MrsR please can I ask you to look at my question earlier

Maria smith grazia
juan smith grazia
Assuming Smith was the dads surname, that is

On marriage, you don't change your name, although you could add de Smith if you wanted to
and become Maria Grazia Hello de Smith although I think this is quite old fashioned now, it is still an option

Thanks

Yup Maria married John Smith
that last name is lovely though

will try and work out what my old fashioned Spanish surname would be

deffinately doesn't sound nearly as nice

Mine would be EVANS LEES

DS WOULD BE OLLEY EVANS

ARGH HOW DO I GET STICKY KEYS OFF?

ah done it

Edam, how weird to pick over my post. The OP is trying to pre-empt the difficulties of having two sur names in a country where the norm is to have one sur name.

Tt stands to reason that if you use two sur names, some people will drop one. They will regard either the first or the second as being the actual sur name. On forms and registers and so on.

If my mother were Spanish and I used the sur name Gillespie Rodríguez growing up, then a lot of people would drop the Gillespie, thinking it was just a middle name, when in fact, according to the legal norms of this country, Gillespie, being my father's name, it would be my primary sur name.

It's not a question of misogyny or being suspicious . Anybody who veres even slightly from the norm is going to encounter some confusion.

My ds has both surnames, no hyphen. Mine first then his fathers. I wanted my name in there as there are no boys in my family at all and the name will die out without it (it's quite an unusual foreign name) and DHs name is second as my FIL would have had a full on melt down if we hadn't put it in!

Interesting to hear about the Spanish traditions.

I guess the confusion in this country must be because it's a relatively new concept to have two surnames (in common use, anyway). Previous generations have mostly had one, or hyphenated, or used the mother's maiden name as a middle name etc. Glad to hear that other people have done the same - hopefully it will get less confusing as it becomes more common.

Father's surname is first, by the way. It just sounded better that way round.