My maiden name is [name_m]Powell[/name_m] and I have a common first name so in school all my friends called me [name_m]Powell[/name_m]. Therefore, it feels like a normal name to me. My grandmothers name was [name_f]Mary[/name_f]. I would like the name my baby [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Powell[/name_m] as a double name (just like [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Kate[/name_f], [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] [name_f]Catherine[/name_f], etc) and call her by her double name. Is that too strange or does it have a nice sound to it?
I love [name_f]Mary[/name_f]! I personally wouldn’t make [name_m]Powell[/name_m] a double barrel. I would make it a seldom used middle name.
[name_m]Powell[/name_m] makes a great middle name (which you could still use regularly – my family likes to use middle names a lot). I think it could also make a perfectly reasonable first name. But it’s going to constantly confuse people if a name that sounds like a last name is actually the second part of a first name. If you do that, you’d have to hyphenate or pretty much no one would assume it’s part of the first name.
It’s very common in the south, especially in the Carolinas. I think [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Powell[/name_m] sounds great. You probably won’t find much support for the idea on this site though.
I prefer it as a middle name. For double barrel names, I prefer it when the two are max 3 syllables when added together (i.e. [name_f]Emmy[/name_f] [name_f]Kate[/name_f], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Anne[/name_f]).
It would make a good first name with a hypen in between, but I think [name_m]Powell[/name_m] would be better as a middle name.
No one would bat an eye in the South. [name_m]Just[/name_m] off the top of my head, I know a [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Miller[/name_m], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Lloyd[/name_m], [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_u]Abbott[/name_u], and a [name_f]Lily[/name_f] Bentham.
Thanks! I am from SC. 
I like the suggestion of a hyphen. Thank you.
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Powell[/name_m] sounds super cool, so I say go for it.
I’d use [name_m]Powell[/name_m] as a double barrel surname.
As a Southerner, [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Powell[/name_m] as a first name sounds perfectly normal to me. I say go for it!
I live in the south and I know a [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Bond[/name_m] and a [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Jack[/name_m]. [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Powell[/name_m] sound great and I didn’t think twice about it. I say use it!