Double barrelled surname - teacher's opinions please

[stickygotstuck]

I'd appreciate some perspective on this, because both DH and I are getting quite annoyed about this now.

My DD has a double-barrelled surname. It's long. That's one of the reasons she doesn't have a middle name and her first name is very short. Let's call her Sticky Got-Stuck.

She started school in September. On her school books her surname was misspelled (say Sticky Gott-Stuck). We corrected that. It keeps cropping up misspelled. We don't want to be a nuisance so haven't pointed it out again, but felt we'd have to at some point soon. Then last week she brought a new book where the order was reversed to Sticky Stuck-Got. (Just why? ).

I spoke to her teacher on Friday, and when I politely pointed out that it has been spelled in many different ways, could we please stick to the one version, she asked me "How would you like it, just 'Got' then?". I replied "No, just spelled correctly". I started to explain that DD is learning to spell her name properly and she is getting confused with so many versions. And she cut me off saying "well, yes, it's very long isn't it?".

I came away feeling patronised and with the distinctive feeling that it inconveniences her.

So any teachers with any strong opinions/extensive experience out there? Does it really make your life difficult?

I will just point out that one of her classmates also has a double-barrelled surname (athough much shorter) and this has never been an issue for them.

[mrz]

I wouldn't consider it a double barrelled name without a hyphen. In my family it's traditional to have mothers maiden name as a middle name.

[abbiefield]

If this refers to what I did, then I have to explain. I removed the hyphen from my DB name and put it together as one word - forming one surname. It was possible in my case to do that without it looking
"odd".

Generally as mrz suggests, if you remove the hyphen then it will lok like two names and the first partof the DB will become a middle name ( and as such not used).

Having said that I found mostof my teachers were dropping the first part of the DB anyway and just giving me the last part ( lets say for example it was Cooper - Smith. I was being called just Smith - teachers were dropping the Cooper , I dropped the hyphen put the names together and used Coopersmith as one word).

[mrz]

No abbiefield it doesn't refer to what you did.

The OP said "My own surname is also double, in two parts like 'Hannah', no hyphen." which I would have assumed (obviously wrongly) was not a double barrelled name.

[clam]

As someone else has said, the only even slight issue (and it's not something that ruins my day) is that I have to use a smaller font when writing class names on lists, or go onto the next line or maybe make the table column wider.

Teachers are not a disparate group?!

[abbiefield]

Teachers are not a disparate group?!


Of course not.
Firstly, they self select because of the choice of occupation. The occupation requires certain triats which , lets face it, if you do not have them, you wouldnt consider teaching.

Secondly, ITT providers select their students. They tend to select individuals with similar traits to each other as they recognise these traits as being " successful" in teaching.

Thirdly, school select teachers according to profiles which also rely on similar traits.

Fourthly, with training and experience teachers tend to develop certain ideas, culture and traits (because they know this makes them "successful").

so overall they become very homogeneous as a group. Not disparate at all.

[mrz]

People come to teaching for all kinds of reasons and to believe that everyone is the same and have the same ideas and traits is frankly bonkers

[mummytime]

Different providers also recruit very different types of students (lots are rejected by one but selected by another).
Also in some subjects anyone who isn't "obviously unsuitable" tends to be recruited.

[clam]

abbiefield None of that has anything to do with the ridiculous claim made up-thread that teachers dislike double-barrelled names because they 'don't like posh' and are inverted snobs.

[abbiefield]

Clam, then I think we will have to agree to disagree.

It is my experience and through that, my opinion. Just because you do not agree it is not invalidated.

[abbiefield]

Different providers also recruit very different types of students (lots are rejected by one but selected by another)

That in my experience has never been the case. ITT providers tend to look for similar charateristics generally.

But when you come down to school level, the teacher type is very clear in the staffroom. Whilst different schools may look for some differences, on the whole teachers are a "muchness" in my experience.

If I have found any disparity it has been generational. What was considered good characteristics for teachers in the past is not so now. But some things never seem to change.

[clam]

And what proportion of the 600,000 or so teachers in the UK are you speaking for then, abbiefield?

[juniper44]

My daughter's surname is not hyphenated. My surname comes after DP's, but I refused the hyphen because I didn't want my name to be a tag-on to his.

I'm obviously shit at this inverted snobbery I've been moulded and selected for. But at least it's something to add to the old CV...