[name]Hi[/name], I’m new! If we have a girl, I really like [name]Mary[/name] [name]Kate[/name] or [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name]. My only reservation is that it might confuse people. I’ve seen people hyphenate double first names. [name]Do[/name] they do this on the birth certificate or just in day to day life? What is your opinion on hyphenating double first names? My first inclination is that I don’t like the way it looks.
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I think it depends on a number of factors, though in general, I agree that the name would look nicer without a hyphen. For example, will you also be giving your daughter a middle name (separate from the double first name)? If so, then you might want to hyphenate to distinguish the first names from the middle name, depending on what the middle name is. If you are using a surname as middle name, this might not be so necessary, for example. In [name]France[/name], children are regularly given hyphenated first names ([name]Jean[/name]-[name]Claud[/name], [name]Marie[/name]-[name]Claire[/name], etc), so if you are a Francophile, you might not think of a hyphen as so strange. Good luck.
I don’t think it’s confusing if you call her [name]Mary[/name] [name]Kate[/name] or [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name] and write that name down as her first name, etc. You don’t need a hyphen and I agree with you that I don’t like the way it looks.
I’ve also known girls/women named [name]MaryBeth[/name], DaniBeth and DaniSue. They just put the two names together without a hyphen and capitalize the second name to show it’s separate. [name]Just[/name] a thought!
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I personally love double names that aren’t hypenated. I know people named [name]Sara[/name] [name]Jane[/name], [name]Mary[/name] [name]Vance[/name], and [name]Ann[/name] [name]Marie[/name], and none of them use hyphens.
Best wishes to you! 
I have hyphenated middle and last names. Hyphens on official documents make it clear which names are in which place. In every day life it’s not really necessary to use a hyphen. Some computer programs will not accept hyphens or spaces within a single name so double names get smooshed together into one name which looks funny to me. I am considering a double first name for a future daughter and have not decided about whether to use a hyphen either. In the middle I’d definitely use one.
all my girls wil have dubble names i like the hyphens
[name]Emma[/name]-[name]Beth[/name]
[name]Abby[/name]-[name]Kate[/name]
im thinking of more i dont think its confusing i think its cute specally for to 1 sylibal names
I personally like hyphenated names. I have a friend named [name]Amber[/name]-[name]Louise[/name]. I really like [name]Macy[/name]-[name]Rose[/name] and [name]Emilie[/name]-[name]Mae[/name] as my two fave hyphenated names. Obviouslt it would depend on the situation with each individual name but I really like [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Kate[/name] hyphenated.
I prefer double names without the hyphen. A hyphenated name sometimes seems just a little like you couldn’t decide between your two favorite names and just put them together. Are your [name]Mary[/name] or [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name] going to be [name]Kate[/name] or [name]Katherine[/name]? I love your combos.
I think double names without the hyphen look classier but this is probably because where I live in [name]Scotland[/name] it’s quite typically a lower class thing to give your children ‘yooneek’ hyphenated first names, almost always ending in -lee! A local anomaly I think. No offence intended to all the happily hyphenated out there!
I’m having a similar problem. We want to use [name]Erika[/name] with the middle name [name]Jade[/name] but as we’ve been saying it we’ve come to like the flow of the two names together. [name]How[/name] do you distinguish between a second first name and a middle name without a hyphen? Can you use a middle name or do you use the second first name as a middle name but say the two together when you introduce her? Have you decided yet?
Although I don’t usually go for hyphens, I think for a non traditional pairing like [name]Erika[/name] and [name]Jade[/name] a hyphen might be helpful. I think without it people might presume that the [name]Jade[/name] is not for common use.
I am an [name]Anne[/name] with [name]Marie[/name] as middle name and people with access to my full name like doctors, and when I was little teachers on the first day of school reading from a class list would always call me [name]Anne[/name] [name]Marie[/name] because its such a common pairing. I think the opposite would happen for an [name]Erika[/name] [name]Jade[/name], where with [name]Erika[/name]-[name]Jade[/name] there is no room for error.
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I absolutely [name]ADORE[/name] the name [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name]. I’ve loved it ever since before I had my oldest daughter [name]Ellie[/name], and have considered it every time. The only thing is I love double middle names and I couldn’t figure out whether to do [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name] and give her two middle names or just do [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name] with one more middle name? I came SO close to using it instead of [name]Clare[/name] for my second daughter, and then after I chose [name]Clare[/name] I thought [name]Ellie[/name], [name]Clare[/name], and [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name] would sound weird (as if they were EllieClare and AnnaKate?) I don’t know. I just used it as a second middle name for my new baby girl [name]Tess[/name], so I won’t have a chance to use it again, but it’s absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I don’t know which name I’d replace with it, as I love all my daughter’s names, but I wish I used it. USE [name]ANNA[/name] [name]KATE[/name]!
I hope this is helpful, this is what makes sense to me, and some of your other readers.
1)Hyphenating is usually not needed. If you introduce your child as “[name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name]” people should get the clue, especially if you always call her by both. (In the 20’s and 30’s lots of women had double fn like [name]Bonnie[/name] [name]Jean[/name], [name]Betty[/name] [name]Jo[/name], and [name]Rhonda[/name] [name]Sue[/name] without hyphenating.)
2)Hyphenate French name pairings as they would be in [name]France[/name] because its awsome
3)Hyphenate unusual pairings like the [name]Erika[/name]-[name]Jade[/name] mentioned earlier so there’s no confusion.
5) With double fn it is sensible to use a family surname such as your or mother’s maiden. [name]Mary[/name] [name]Anne[/name] [name]Campbell[/name] X wouldn’t need the hyphen. But…
6) If you do not use a surname for a mn, it would be prudent to hyphenate the double fn. Eg; [name]Mary[/name] [name]Anne[/name] [name]Elisabeth[/name] X would need a hyphen to distinguish the fn from the mn…
7) Double fn or double mn, but not both! And if your last name is hyphenated it may be better to avoid double fn also…
But of course it is all personal preference. [name]Anna[/name] [name]Kate[/name] is a sweet name. What are your middle name picks?
[name_m]Hi[/name_m]. I was researching the topic of to hyphenate or not to hyphenate a girls two names & saw you had the same questions back in '09. Any insights you can share with me. The last name is hyphenated and the name we want as the official name is [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] but then the middle name is what family, friends & school…[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]-[name_f]Star[/name_f]. What did you decide to do & how has it worked out ? Any pitfalls you would reconsider? They talk about name regret & that is something we want to avoid.
Thanks
[name_m]Hi[/name_m]. I was researching the topic of to hyphenate or not to hyphenate a girls two names & saw you had the same questions back in '09. Any insights you can share with me. The last name is hyphenated and the name we want as the official name is [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] but then the middle name is what family, friends & school…[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]-[name_f]Star[/name_f]. What did you decide to do & how has it worked out ? Any pitfalls you would reconsider? They talk about name regret & that is something we want to avoid.
I have two first names and they aren’t hyphenated. I’m not a fan of the look of hyphenated first names, they look almost robotic to me for some reason. However, it would be easier to see that her first name is (for example) [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_f]Kate[/name_f] and that [name_f]Kate[/name_f] isn’t her middle name.
[name_f]My[/name_f] name is [name_f]Emma[/name_f] [name_u]Louise[/name_u] and everyone thinks [name_u]Louise[/name_u] is my middle name (I actually have a separate middle name which confuses people as well since it’s my moms maiden name so then people think I have two last names lol) People mess it up all the time and even on my credit card the person messed it up when I told her it twice. I think if my name was hyphenated there wouldn’t be any confusions or mix ups.
Also I think it depends on if you call her by a nickname. [name_m]Say[/name_m] you name her [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_f]Kate[/name_f]. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you plan on calling her [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_f]Kate[/name_f], introducing her as [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_f]Kate[/name_f], and having her classmates call her [name_f]Anna[/name_f] [name_f]Kate[/name_f]? If not and you plan on using a nickname (for instance [name_f]Anna[/name_f]), then I think it would be more confusing. I go by [name_f]Emma[/name_f] by everyone except my mom and dad (just because when I was a kid my parents let me decide in school and I wanted to fit in since everyone else had one name so I just went with [name_f]Emma[/name_f]). If you use a nickname (and keep her name unhyphenated) then I would expect it to be even more confusing. Speaking from experience. (Having to constantly correct teachers, doctors, friends, etc).
Honestly though it really hasn’t altered my life in a bad way, it just takes a little more time explaining then it would another person. You have to get use to correcting people over and over again. And if I had gotten to choose, I would have chosen to keep my name unhyphenated.
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] this helps 