Hyphenated Last Names?

StrawberryAlarmClock

Hyphenated last *Na Sarawak to be growing in popularity. I have 2-3 in each class this year. So, today I got to thinking: If Mary Smith-Jones marries Bob Miller-Adams, what the heck do they do with their last names? What about their kids? Do they treat it like Hispanic surnames? Wasn't the original point to preserve the ancestry on ?both? sides? ::head explodes::

ETA: WTF, autocorrect?!?! *names appear

austenreader85

I guess it would only be a problem if Mary Smith-Jones wants to keep her maiden name.  I think most people in the US would have enough sense to not try to hyphenate Smith-Jones-Miller-Adams.  I've known some married couples to hyphenate their last names but then the child takes the father's last name.  My guess would be that it would be impossible to always keep both sides family legacy in a name.  But we've gotten royally screwed over by the fact that DH is a II, so I definitely don't take it as seriously as some.

anna7602

I was wondering how "Na Sarawak" was growing in popularity! Anyway, I hear you. Although I've actually been feeling a little self-conscious lately about what assessment people of a liberal political persuasion around these parts make of me when they realize DD DOESN'T have a hyphenated last name. .

Brodyrox30

Where I live in Canada, each of the parents get to pick ONE of the surnames from their hyphenated name and combine them, alphabetically into one hypenated name. Or they can just use the father's surname. So Mary Smith-Jones' and Bob Miller-Adams' children could have the surname Miller-Adams. OR Mary choses Smith and Bob chooses Miller, and their childrens' surname is Miller-Smith.

Xmen mommy

I have no idea what our boys will choose if they marry a woman with a hyphenated name and have children. When my DH and I got married we hyphenated, and by we I mean he did as well. All of our children have the same hyphenated name! I suppose time will tell....

GeneGoddess

Xmen mommy:

I have no idea what our boys will choose if they marry a woman with a hyphenated name and have children. When my DH and I got married we hyphenated, and by we I mean he did as well. All of our children have the same hyphenated name! I suppose time will tell....

Similar to us.  We BOTH hyphenate socially (legally kept our our names - much easier with our jobs) and our kids have/will have hyphenated last names legally (a grand total of three syllables and sounds like VanHouten - aka Milhouse from the Simpsons).  They can do whatever they want.

zaramarie81

StrawberryAlarmClock:

Hyphenated last *Na Sarawak to be growing in popularity. I have 2-3 in each class this year. So, today I got to thinking: If Mary Smith-Jones marries Bob Miller-Adams, what the heck do they do with their last names? What about their kids? Do they treat it like Hispanic surnames? Wasn't the original point to preserve the ancestry on ?both? sides? ::head explodes::

ETA: WTF, autocorrect?!?! *names appear

In some countries (like Switzerland) the tradition is for the couple to hyphenate their names but for the kids to get dad's name. Then, when/if they marry, both sexes hyphenate their names but give the kids dad's ln and the process starts again. I suspect if two kids with hyphenated names grow up and get married, they'll either have to do what they do in Europe and recombine their names together or have one just take the others' name.

 But you make a good point... at some point hyphenation is impractical. Another tradition I like is for women to make their maiden name their mn and to give kids the same mn.

CarrieLMB

When DH and I got married, I kept my name and he kept his.  When our son was born, I wanted to just use DH's name because I thought it would be easier and sounds nice with our son's name.  DH absolutely insisted that we hyphenate.  So, now all our children will have hyphenated names.  (It's kind of funny because everyone thinks I was the one that wanted to hyphenate.)

Anyway, I always imagined if one of our children chose to marry someone with a hyphenated name they would probably drop my name and keep DH...  but who knows.  Ultimately they will be adults by then and can choose to do whatever they want with their own names.