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Does your first name and last name have to "match"?

pevilapevila member
in Stay at Home Moms
I had a very hard time naming DD. Her dad is half German with a very difficult German last name, and we live in Peru but she will also have a German passport, so it had to be something that works well both in Peru and in Germany. I wanted the German name Maren, but DH preferred Sophia, so her name is Sophia Maren. We also wanted to make it easier for everybody to pronounce her name, so a first name ending in a vowel was better than one ending in a consonant. 
My last name is catalan, and in Peru you use both last names (paternal and maternal), so I wanted her first name to sound good with my last name too. 
Some people told me I was overthinking it, that you should choose a name you like, and nothing else matters. But I think that your names and last names should have some sort of correlation, whether to where you live or the origin of your last name.
I would be hard for me to ask for/recieve opinions on names without knowing at leat a bit of the last name. 
Maybe it's something cultural or maybe I'm incredibly fastidious.  

 
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Re: Does your first name and last name have to "match"?

  • Mrs.GregMrs.Greg member
    Well, our last name is Hispanic, DH's family is German, I am Korean. My FIL's mother remarried a Hispanic man when FIL was really young, that's how we got the last name. I've been told a few times by different people that Lydia and Fiona are Russian names. We didn't do any research on the names we chose. I've loved the name Lydia since I was a teenager and luckily DH loved it too when I suggested it. DH and I both just love the names Anna and Fiona.
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  • fancefppfancefpp member
    As long as they sound ok together, I'm fine with it. Our last name starts with an S so a lot of S and C names sounded to matchy matchy
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  • Rink08Rink08 member
    No. Names change. Nicknames and married last names are going to (likely) mix it up anyways.

    FWIW Our kids have Spanish first and middle names (I'm Hispanic/Italian) and a German last name (DH is German/Irish).

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  • notreallyirishnotreallyirish member
    I think you choose a name that means something to you. People will make assumptions and mistakes no matter what.

    Our last name Italian, although people often assume it is Hispanic. DH has had more than one disappointed Spanish speaking patient come to him based on that assumption. Not that he speaks Italian either...

    DS1's given name is Italian, but his nickname is English/American and people assume his full name is the English name. No one can spell his given name either because it's kind of a hybrid Italian/Spanish spelling, but that's how GFIL spells his name. DS2's name is a traditional English name. No nickname, hard to mess up.

    My name is a relatively common, traditional English name, but people still have trouble spelling and reading it.
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  • minerswife17minerswife17 member
    We had such a hard time finding a name for DD that didn't clash, but it's kinda hard. My nickname and last name rhyme, so I prefer to go by my full name, but family still calls me by my nn. My maiden name is German, DHs is very Irish. DDs name is Irish, we didn't do it on "purpose" but it was a name we finally agreed on. It just worked out well.
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  • lyingliarlieslyingliarlies member
    CabbageCabbage said:
    I think they need to go together just a little. Two wildly clashing cultures sounds very weird, like Leisel Sanchez or Sanjay O'Malley is not the best. I am not a fan of similar endings if it gets sing-songy. I grew up with a long hyphenated name, so I was thrilled when I married a man with a short and easy to pronounce, although very uncommon, last name. 
    ha the example i was thinking of was Guiseppe O'Reilley :)

    but then again i know of people who are like 1/16 italian, have an italian last name, marry someone who isn't italian at all, & pick a very obviously italian first name (not a family name either) just so they can be all jersey shore-like. same with irish names. nothing wrong with these names per se but i kinda think it's funny.

    i start w/ names i love then look into meaning & origin.  i also looked at our family trees for ideas.
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  • pevilapevila member
    Maybe it's different for me because women don't take their husband's name when they marry here. But I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks about these things!
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  • pevilapevila member
    CnAmom said: @pevila‌ is it common for people to have multiple names? My dad's ex-wife is from peru and after she hyphenated her last name she had like six. Please forgive me if that is offensive, I'm just curious. Hahaha, yes, it's pretty common. I would say it was pretty common. Most people now do one name or two, but DD needed two for her German nationality. If not, she'd only have one name. I only have one name, and DH has only one too, but my grandma has 4, and DH's mom has 5!
    I don't find any questions offensive if they're not meant to be offensive BTW!
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  • nonoemilynonoemily member
    My family is British. My name is Nordic and I literally know of no other living person with my same first name.

    I was married and divorced in my early twenties. I dropped my maiden name and then I dropped my XHs name and now use my middle name as a last name. I like it because it's my own family name and I'm not connected to anyone else through it.

    DS has a Hebrew first name. DH has a pretty common last name that I feel like goes with most anything. If LO#2 is a boy he will also have a Hebrew first name. If it's a girl, the name I like is old German.

    I think names have to "go" together, but in an way that I can't explain. I can't describe it but I know it when I see it.
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