Hyphen or no hyphen

knottiea2ca46112382a9ed

I've pushed to have my last name as part of the baby's last name and my husband is totally on board. Both of our names end in "son", so it's a bit long, but we've decided it's the only way for us to both feel/be included! Additionally, we've decided to let our kid (maybe even encourage our kid) to drop one of the last names if he ever decides he wants to. 

Here's my question: right now we are not planning on using a hyphen, but people have said that may get confusing on legal documents. Example: Michael Christopher Johnson Peterson

Any thoughts?

Note: I don't want my name as a second middle name...it will be the first part of the last name. 

mybeesnamedsusie

Personally, I would include a hyphen.  As a teacher, I see SO MANY documents with students names that get messed up because of people quickly looking at names and transferring them onto documents incorrectly.  The hyphen can help tell people that this is your son's last name.

lelkcot

If both last names are meant to be baby's last name, I would include a hyphen. Without it I would think most people would just assume the 4th name was baby's last name and the 3rd name was just a second middle name. 

ravenhairedgirl83

I have the exact same response as @lelkcot. 

harpseal135

Hyphen - its how a double last name typically is written.  

knottie_knottie1

I'm team no hyphen. I also kept my last name when I got married and my husband and I plan to give our child both our last names with no hyphen. My sister and her wife also went with no hyphen. Personally, I think it looks better with no hyphen, but it's up to each family's personal preference. 

I also want to note that the "typical" way to write a double last name depends on the culture you grew up in and there's no world standard. Neither hyphen or no hyphen is wrong. 

knottie_knottie1

Also, if people can figure out that Catherine Zeta-Jones is hyphenated and Sacha Baron Cohen isn't, they can figure out how your baby's name is written too.

mb0112

I prefer the look without the hyphen. But guarantee people will insert a hyphen incorrectly at times. I've had multiple students with hyphens in our official school records even though the student says it's not supposed to be there and it's not on the birth certificate. 

mercury94

As someone with a hyphenated last name, I will say that one annoying thing about it is that some systems won’t accept hyphens, so I never know how my last name will appear on things like at the doctor’s office or the pharmacy. Sometimes they put a space, sometimes they cram it all together, sometimes they just use the second one (my husband’s last name).

ETA: but, my friend who did both last names for her son without the hyphen does often deal with people using only the second last name (her husband’s name), so the hyphen might help prevent that.