# Buckets of coal

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buckets-of-coal/46702>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 21, 2000, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buckets-of-coal/46702 "2000-12-21T15:25:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dterry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dterry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dterry)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buckets-of-coal/46702/1 "2000-12-21T15:25:03Z")

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Perhaps this interest in Victorian Christmas things has other interest attached to it as well …  
Children hauling buckets of coal or working in the textile mills, women at home “happily” knitting or making dinner with out a thought of voting and only one sir name,and etc.

One thing I’d be curious to ask Cecil about is where and how the concept of the hyphenated (dual) sir names came to be “invented”. Can we blame Canada for that?

Merry Christmas,  
Happy New Year,  
Happy New Century,  
and  
Happy New Millennium to all

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buckets-of-coal/46702/2 "2000-12-21T16:17:54Z")

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[We get nostalgic for Victorian Christmases. What did Victorians get nostalgic for?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_014.html)

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buckets-of-coal/46702/3 "2000-12-21T16:31:40Z")

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Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment.  
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**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buckets-of-coal/46702/4 "2000-12-21T17:44:28Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Dterry \*  
> **One thing I’d be curious to ask Cecil about is where and how the concept of the hyphenated (dual) sir names came to be “invented”. Can we blame Canada for that?**

This question would probably get a more enthusiastic response in the General Questions forum, since it doesn’t really relate to the column. I’ll give you my answer anyway, though.

Hyphenated surnames came into being not too long after surnames started being used in the Middle Ages. [By the way, it is ‘sur’ names. Comes from the Old French for ‘above’ or ‘on top of’, and indicates a name used in addition to the ‘Christian’ name to distinguish you from all the others with the same first name.] Basically, once a name rose to high stature, fathers were loathe to let their daughters drop it in favor of a husband’s name. So, the children of an heiress would take a hyphenated name, so as to carry on a branch of the famous family. Like most any practice of the nobility, it eventually was emulated by the upperclasses among the commonfolk. Now, in our much less class-conscious society, almost anyone might use this practice.