# hyphenated British names **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294 "2000-10-09T18:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SWCaccio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@SWCaccio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SWCaccio)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/1 "2000-10-09T18:36:35Z")
I’ve recently become a fan of the Britcom “Keeping Up Appearences.” Many of the names mentioned in the series sound as though they’re hyphenated, such as Mrs. Barker-Finch and the Cooper-Bassets. I’ve noticed a number of hyphenated names in real life, such as Catherine Zeta-Jones and Camilla Parker-Bowles, but I’ve never seen any explanation for why names are stated this way. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/2 "2000-10-09T18:44:36Z")
Some people adopt a hyphenated name consisting of both spouses’ surnames when they get married. So if David Jones marries Jane Smith, they would become David and Jane Smith-Jones. Obviously this can only be done once, otherwise you’d quickly end up with a four- or eight-name name. It is a practice that was (and maybe still is) much more common among the upper classes (where your name counts for much more than it does among ordinary folk) and for reasons I don’t quite understand, the Welsh. ---
**Author:** ![Nukeman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Nukeman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nukeman)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/3 "2000-10-09T19:03:18Z")
In England we call them ‘double barrelled’ names. I think theyre mad. ---
**Author:** ![fierra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@fierra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fierra)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/4 "2000-10-10T00:45:23Z")
The ones in Keeping Up Appearances are deliberately chosen to be that way as the woman is an horrendous snob. Yes, they tend to be upper class names, or also, since more women work in non-secretarial positions, women are often keeping their surnames for professional reasons wholey, or in part, by making them double barrelled. I believe american women tend to keep their surname like this too? ---
**Author:** ![kiffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kiffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiffa)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/5 "2000-10-10T03:16:07Z")
I’m one of those American women who reinvented my last name when I married. I needed to keep my name for professional reasons, but I also wanted to add my husband’s name. So I put his name first followed by my maiden name - it just has a better musical beat to it. To confuse everyone I do so without a hyphen. It works except: \> for my traditional Scandanvian Mom who refers to me only by husband’s family name when she writes letters \> some longtime friends get confused - even to this day sometimes one of my siblings gets confused as well. \> for anyone who wants to put my name into a computer or to see if my drug prescription has been filed or to find my medical/dental records. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/6 "2000-10-10T04:38:28Z")
Dear Sirs, Egad! All this time I thought it meant we were born on the “other side of the blanket,” don’t you know. Yours truly, etc. Cyril Buff-Orpington (Mrs.) ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/7 "2000-10-10T08:36:47Z")
I always thought it was adopted by women who had married ‘beneath’ them so they get to keep the posh bit. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/8 "2000-10-10T08:43:09Z")
The right two names, when hyphenated, can sound really cool. I always thought guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low had a really cool name. And John Rhys-Davies works great. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/9 "2000-10-10T10:13:31Z")
The original reason was to preserve the surname of a wife who was her family’s sole heiress. In other words, her surname would otherwise have died out as there were no male relatives of that name. In some cases, the inheritance of land depended on an heir through a female line adopting the family name. The link with inheritance meant that the practice was largely confined to the aristocracy and the gentry, hence the ‘posh’ connotations. Once that connotation had become widely recognised, some families adopted them in order to enhance their apparent social status. The result is that an English double-barrelled name now sounds either very aristocratic or phoney. The names in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ were presumably playing on this. Professional women in Britain tend not to combine their original and their married names in this way precisely because these assumptions are made about double-barrelled names. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/10 "2000-10-10T11:30:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by APB \* > **The result is that an English double-barrelled name now sounds either very aristocratic or phoney. The names in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ were presumably playing on this.** Actually there was a direct joke on this, concerning the Barker-Finches. (Not quite an exact quote, but close enough for me): Hyacinth, after Richard mentions the Barker-Finches: ‘What an affectation! He was a Barker, she was a Finch, and suddenly they’re hyphenated!’ Irony here, for those who don’t watch the show, is that Hyacinth is the QUEEN of posh affectations. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2000, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyphenated-british-names/36294/11 "2000-10-10T11:38:50Z")
[hijack] - “The Bouquet Residence, lady of the house speaking!” - “Hello, mrs. Bucket, it’s the gas company here” 😃 [/hijack]