So one of our top picks if our next baby is a girl is the double barrel name [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name]. I have no experience though with double barrel names and am not sure if it would really take. I asked my 8 year old daughter what she thought and she immediately said, “Oh, I thought we’d call her [name]Gracie[/name].” hmm…that’s what I was afraid of… I’m also am concerned that she’d end up just [name]Mary[/name]. I don’t think [name]Mary[/name] has enough spunk on it’s own and one of my son’s name is [name]Mark[/name]. I can imagine a [name]Mark[/name] and a [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] in a house but not a [name]Mark[/name] and a [name]Mary[/name]. fyi…the other kids are [name]Paul[/name], [name]Clare[/name], [name]Katharine[/name] (nn [name]Kate[/name]/[name]Katie[/name]/[name]Kat[/name]) and [name]James[/name]. I had also thought we might call her [name]May[/name] as a nn but while different from [name]Mark[/name] [name]May[/name] sounds a lot like [name]Kate[/name] and [name]James[/name].
[name]How[/name] about hyphenating it to make it more obvious - [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Grace[/name]? [name]Love[/name] the nickname [name]May[/name], too. I think if you call her [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Grace[/name], she’ll always go by that.
I agree about the hyphen. I think that makes it more clear that it’s “[name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name]” and not [name]Gracie[/name] nor [name]Mary[/name]. [name]May[/name] would be a really sweet nickname, too, though I see your point about the long A sound like in [name]Kate[/name] and [name]James[/name].
I’d be prepared, though, that even if you do go with [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Grace[/name] (or even just [name]Mary[/name], for example), there’ll always be someone who tries to shorten it.
[name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] is lovely, by the way!
i really hate double barreled names…they are just not classy or nice at all
I have not really come across many double barrel names - I don’t think they’re as popular here (UK) as in the States. [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] is lovely, and if you don’t want just [name]Mary[/name] or [name]Gracie[/name] then I guess the hyphen would sort that out. I wonder if you like any other versions of [name]Mary[/name], if you feel [name]Mary[/name] isn’t quite right?
[name]Marianne[/name]
[name]Marietta[/name]
[name]Marie[/name]
I think [name]May[/name], [name]Kate[/name] and [name]James[/name] are ok as part of your sibset because all the other sounds (apart from the “ay”) are different.
I know plenty of people with double barrel names and none of them had their names unnecessarily shortened unless they wanted to. I think [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] is lovely and goes very nice with the other names.
I’m not sure what I think of double names…I know I’d never use one, but I don’t think they’re always tacky. I don’t like hyphens though, I think those are tacky. However, I do know several people with them, and both names have stuck. I went to school with a girl named Ashleah-[name]Ann[/name] and that’s what she was always called. And now, I have a [name]Mary[/name] [name]Kate[/name] in my grade 4 class, and that’s what everyone calls her. I also knew a [name]Katie[/name]-[name]Jane[/name], always called by both.
I dont think you have to hyphenate, thats usually dont for a reason not just because it looks nice, I think [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] is lovely and if you just tell people her name is [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] and not [name]Mary[/name] or [name]Gracie[/name] they should respect that.
I think its cute and was seriously considering a double name for DD#2.
I would skip the hyphen, and I don’t think you’d have to do any further correcting than if you just named her [name]Grace[/name] and didn’t want [name]Gracie[/name] 
I think it’s alright. I knew a girl named [name]Kathy[/name] [name]Jo[/name]. People always called her that. But her name could have been [name]Kathy[/name] [name]Josephine[/name]. (Possibly a middle name?) But she was more of an acquaintance so I don’t know if that’s true or not.
NO matter what, kids always get nick names! Like my brother [name]Hanson[/name], my mom doesn’t want a nickname for him but all his friends call him [name]Hanny[/name]. and my friends name is [name]Elisabeth[/name] and her parents did NOT want anyone to call her [name]Lizzy[/name], but her friends call her [name]Elis[/name] instead. people always find nicknames. but if you do name her [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] ( beautiful name btw) remember to stick with it and always call her that and to not be afraid to correct someone when they give her a nickname and say 'No, her name is [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name]" then you’ll be fine!
- [name]Evelyn[/name]
Thanks everyone for all of your responses. I don’t think we’ll hyphenate mainly because dh doesn’t care for the sound of [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] + another middle name.
Thanks for the support! I wasn’t sure if I got the gist of your post. I wasn’t sure if by [name]Grace[/name]/[name]Mary[/name] you meant that I should pick [name]Grace[/name] or [name]Mary[/name] rather than doing the double barrel thing. My son [name]Mark[/name] would have been [name]Grace[/name] [name]Catherine[/name] if he had been a girl but in the few years between [name]Mark[/name] and [name]Katharine[/name] I decided that “Gracies” were everywhere. (Of course, I ended up with a [name]Katie[/name] so go figure.)
As far as the [name]John[/name]/[name]Luke[/name] suggestion I think that is spot on. They’re the classic 1-syllable New Testament names that we haven’t used. [name]John[/name] is my FIL and I have a nephew named after him. [name]Luke[/name] is my [name]BIL[/name]. DH isn’t completely opposed to using those names but isn’t really wanting to either. Since he has been rooting for [name]Andrew[/name] for a while it seems like the better choice.
That’s funny because for the most part the person I’ve been trying to prevent from nicknaming is my dh. [name]Katharine[/name] was the one exception, but I pushed for [name]Paul[/name], [name]Clare[/name], and [name]Mark[/name] so dh couldn’t shorten them. In [name]Katharine[/name]'s case I thought I was good with [name]Katie[/name] but then decided that the full name was less commonly used and dh has gone to [name]Kat[/name] anyway.
When I look at [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] on the screen I see [name]Macy[/name] [name]Gray[/name]! But I am pretty tired so hopefully that means absolutely nothing!
I’m not sure about double-barrelled names - I feel like if you don’t like either name enough on its own then you should discard them both.
Also, if you don’t have a hyphen she will just be [name]Mary[/name] with mn [name]Grace[/name]. But honestly I think [name]Mary[/name] goes beautifully with your other names, it’s a strong classic name, doesn’t clash at all with [name]Mark[/name], and is much less popular than [name]Grace[/name].
And if you like the nn [name]May[/name] then perhaps just name her [name]May[/name], or [name]Mae[/name]. Or what about [name]Madeleine[/name] with nn [name]May[/name]? Also a bible classic!
I know someone with the name, but she spells it Marigrace, similar to [name]Marianne[/name]. The problem comes with pronunciation though- most people say [name]Mari[/name]-[name]GRACE[/name] with the accent on the [name]Grace[/name] part of the name (including myself) whereas she says [name]MARI[/name]-grace, and I feel she gets frustrated when it’s emphasized on the [name]Grace[/name].
That’s why I’m thinking through this double barrel thing. I could see us intending to call her [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] but since dh tends to shorten names anyway I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she ended up just [name]Mary[/name] or just [name]Grace[/name]. Somehow [name]Mary[/name] Tys0n has never struck me as particularly terrific combo. And if she’s going to go by [name]Grace[/name] I think I’d just like that to be her first name and save her all the headaches.
I guess I’m just not sure if it clashes with [name]Mark[/name] or not. They’d be like 7 years apart which I do think makes it matter less.
I really like the double barrel! In this case, it seems to take two very classic names and make them something a little extra special. As long as you stick to [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name], I dont think youll have to worry too much about one being dropped. All the double names I’ve known (A [name]Margaret[/name] [name]Ann[/name], [name]Norma[/name] [name]Jean[/name] (really), [name]Sarah[/name] [name]Beth[/name], and [name]Mary[/name] [name]Kate[/name]) have always gone by both names.
I really like [name]Mary[/name]-[name]Grace[/name].
You guys are not making this decision easier =)
I don’t think the hyphen is necessary, if you call her [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] you don’t really need it. I know a [name]Grace[/name] [name]Anne[/name] and and a [name]Laura[/name] [name]Jane[/name], both go by both names because that is what they were always called and they like it. However, if little [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name]'s siblings call her [name]Mary[/name] or [name]Gracie[/name], or if she likes one better, don’t be surprised if she doesn’t stick with both. I think it is sort of like nicknames, you can’t always predict what will happen. But, I think that [name]Mary[/name] [name]Grace[/name] is a beautiful name, I don’t find it tacky at all!