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I would like to know the origin of hyphenated last names.
Grace Norman
Colorado USA
Grace Norman
Colorado USA
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Joined: Oct 2000
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the origin of hyphenated last namesWelcome aBoard, Grace! I'd always thought that multiple surnames were simply the result of marriages where there was a desire to retain both (or all) surnames. The old standard (changing these days) was that the woman would by default forfeit her maiden name, but what if that name belonged to a highly-regarded family? Then the woman may want to adopt a new combined surname. The couple may then decide to pass that name on to their children. I believe in legal terms children can have whatever surname (as well as first name) the parents choose. So even if the parents didn't decide they wanted to merge surnames until children arrived, they could do so then. In fact if you wanted to call your child whatever you wanted, even if it had no relation at all to any family names, you could do so. Scary really  FiskP.S. Incidentally over this side of the Pond we'd talk about "double-barrelled" rather than "hyphenated" names. Anybody else familiar with these terms?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome, also, Grace.
"Double-barrelled" names? No, never heard of 'em, but it's a great term and should be used as often as possible.
Do you also refer to hyphenated words as being double-barrelled? Rootin'-tootin' in rootin'-tootin' cowboy seems a natural candidate for a double-barrelled word. I don't know that it's hyphenated, but.
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Great name (Grace, that is)! Your hyphen question makes me think (as is the usual use of hyphen) that when I say "Olivia Newton-John" what I'm really saying is Olivia John of the Newton variety!
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My welcome as well, Grace. Hope you decide to stick around.
No doubt the trend toward hyphenated names in the US is a product of our growing sensitivity to gender equality. After all, if a married woman decides to keep her maiden/birth [choose one] name, why shouldn't her children get to keep both names? The obvious flaw in this practice arises when offspring from two such families marry. Will their kids be saddled with four names and three hyphens?
I get the idea that the double-name situation in the UK is altogether different. I'll welcome a correction from one of our friends from the mother country, but it's my guess that sometime in the past two prominent families, joined by marriage, felt the need to seal the bond with a double-barreled moniker. The Prince of Wales's girlfriend has one of these names, and I've noticed references to yound Prince William being linked with a number of young women with similar tags. To the American ear (at least to this pair) these hyphens suggest just a dash of elegance. But then let's not forget Mandy Rice-Davies. Colorful, but not exactly elegant.
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Hi Grace and welcome to the madhouse . I'm sure there are as many answers to this question as there are people or cultures that use more than one surname for their children whether they be hyphenated or no. You might be interested in checking this link to a previous thread: http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=53866
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Hi Graceusa, welcome on Board.
Here is a hyphenating rule I don't quite understand. In French Québec, if a street is named after a person the name will take a hyphen if the person is dead and none if he/she is alive. Eg. René-Levesque street in Montréal is named after a former prime minister who passed away.
It is such an odd rule that most people don't even bother with the hyphens when writing out addresses.
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I had thought that it might be a computer related requirement, as a lot of databases do not accept a blank space as a valid character to store. The hyphen may prevent the data from being stored as one squished word. I see nothing wrong with having two separate names as a "last name", but then one would have to call them "last names".
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one reason for double barrels is good old snobbery. if an aristocratic woman was from a better family or had a 'better' family name part of her dowry could be to bring that name to her new family. examples include the wentworths, the remingtons, and my old dear ancestors the lockharts. another reason could be an indicator of estates owned or regions ruled over. a good example of this is brendas original name saxe-coburg, the names of the two royal duchys the queen is descended from, in what is now germany. many aristocrats have two names, their family name; essex, buckingham, wellington, and their fathers name. remember estates do not always go from father to son. of course the estimable english middle classes cottoned on to this some time ago and many people of the aspirational class have hyphenated their surnames simply to look 'posh'.
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