[name_m]Hi[/name_m] my sister is thinking of giving her unborn child a double barrelled surname. They would be hyphened together.
For arguments sake something like Edwards-[name_u]Ashton[/name_u] or [name_u]Ashton[/name_u]-Edwards. Neither of these are the actual surnames being used but they are similar.
So what do you guys think?
Okay, so this topic has come up often in my family. My honest opinion is that even if I kept my maiden name, I’d give my child my husband’s name, just because it’s simpler to learn and spell for the child. However, many people have very strong opinions about this, so if she really wants her child to have both names, I’d say that it is fine! My only suggestion for this is for her to maybe not do a long first name or a double-barrel middle so that it doesn’t get way too long! 
I have a double barrelled surname, but I’m thinking about changing the first name to a second middle if I get the chance (like if I get married, I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to do it). I think it’s fine, if it’s used from birth, mine wasn’t and caused a few issues later on. From what I’ve seen so far, they don’t cause much of a problem, I know quite a few people (aside from myself) with double surnames, and they seem to work on documents etc. Occasionally the last letter has been left off on my own (in registers for example) but it wasn’t difficult to solve (and it is quite long altogether) and not on any official documents. I’d say if she really wants to, it’s fine.
My daughter has a hypenated surname (in the vein of [name_m]Sherman[/name_m]-Palladino or Perego-Saldana). So far, so good. They can’t figure what to call me at the doctor’s office, but other than that, no issues. I admit that I do feel some knee-jerk defensiveness about having given her a hypenated name, kind of similar to how I feel about breastfeeding in public: I know it’s fine, absolutely valid, and not anyone else’s business, but in the back of my mind I can’t quite shake a concern about the possibility of judgement, nasty comments, etc.
We gave my son a hyphenated name since I never changed my last name. [name_m]Zero[/name_m] issues with it. It’s a personal decision and there’s no right or wrong, just what works for your family
I have a double barrelled last name and its never been an issue. You get used to it eventually.
I live in an area with a high Hispanic population, so a lot of kids have two last names. I work at an elementary school, and while both names are listed on the kids’ school records, a lot of times the kids only use one of the last names. My husband has two last names because he is from Mexico, but sometimes on paperwork we only put the first last name. When I got married, I took his first last name, and we gave my daughter the same last name.
I personally only wanted to have one last name for myself and my children, but I don’t see anything wrong with having two.
Well, i have a Hyphenated last name (and a quite odd one at that) and I love it. I’be never really had any problems with, actually in a way it’s been great because a lot of the time people will only know how to pronounce one of the names (my name is something along the lines of yamazaki-villumsen, if get where I’m going) so it’s nice that people will just sort of stick to the one they know.
It also makes me feel ~unique~ because I’m quite sure me and my brothers are the only ones who have this last name combo in the world which is pretty cool
Also I’m happy to have both as my official last name as I think not having one or the other would make me feel disconnected from one culture/side of the family if i only had one. All in all i would 100% go for it, if they want to they can change when they grow up anyway and just pick whatever last name they want, which is nice
Having a hyphenated last name is totally fine. Where I live it’s pretty uncommon, but by no means unheard of, and no one has problems with it for the most part. Except for the person with the hyphenated name sometimes, who finds it a pain writing the whole thing down!
And of course if they find it too cumbersome they can just use one of the names. Some people use both in official/formal contexts but just one on social media, etc., and others who exclusively use just one except on legal documents. Most people I know with two will use both at least sometimes, but some do use just one so if you’d be bothered by that I’d advise against hyphenating. When a person uses both names on a regular basis though I’ve never seen other people leaving one off.
We gave my daughter a hyphenated last name. It’s myname-hisname, but only 3 syllables total (8 letters). Other than my [name_f]MIL[/name_f] having a quibble about whose name went first (which DH shot down), it’s not a big deal
i haven’t read through the responses so i’m not sure what other people are saying… but i just wanted to throw in my 2 cents really quick.
i grew up with a hyphenated surname and i hate it. i always hated it.
people get confused, computers don’t recognize hyphens, it’s too long for some forms/credit cards/you name it.
i always have to spell it out (with the hyphen) so people don’t think i’m telling them my middle name, i’m hard to find in computer systems. i could go on and on.
i understand why people do it… i just wish my mother hadn’t.
we hyphenated our names when we got married and we will give the hyphenated name to our kids. if they decide to just use one, drop one, or move it to a middle at some point we don’t really care. we generally use our given names unless it has to be our full legal name.
I think hyphenating makes a lot of sense! Your children are just as much your partner’s as they are yours, so unless one of you has already taken the other’s surname as your own, it makes sense that you’d want to give your child both surnames.
In practice though, hyphenating can sometimes be troublesome. I personally think that a long surname can make choosing a first and middle name harder because I probably wouldn’t want the full name to be like 12+ syllables long. [name_m]Long[/name_m] names are also harder to fit on forms, as others have mentioned. [name_u]Ashton[/name_u]-Edwards, however, is only four syllables, so your sister probably won’t have too much trouble with it.
I think it depends on the names. If it flows well together then I’d do it. There’s an actress for instance named [name_u]Dominique[/name_u] Provost-Chalkley and I think her name is beautiful and flows well even though it’s quite long.