# Most Unfortunate Hyphenated Surname **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 18, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227 "2011-08-18T21:30:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/1 "2011-08-18T21:30:37Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=620847), what’s the most unfortunate hyphenated surname you can come up with? I’m thinking **Wrigley-Sidebottom** is a possible contender. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/2 "2011-08-18T21:41:13Z")
I am aware of a couple with constituents named Ms. Finger and Mr. Beaver. I secretly pray for them to marry and for her to hyphenate. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/3 "2011-08-18T22:41:01Z")
Former employer of mine listed a Mr. Pagan-Colon in the directory for their Philippine office. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/4 "2011-08-18T22:44:56Z")
Rogers-Boyes. (With apologies to [this chap](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Boyes).) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/5 "2011-08-18T23:36:41Z")
Not a hyphenated person necessarily, but I saw[these shirts](http://wedinator.icanhascheezburger.com/2010/07/05/funny-wedding-photos-self-deprecation-wedding-favors/) from the Brown-Dick wedding, a joy which the couple seems to have embraced. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/6 "2011-08-19T00:31:15Z")
When I was working at AT&T in the early '80s (I was secretary to the head of corporate planning, don’cha know), I had to place a call for my boss: “Hello, this is Miss Golden calling for Mr. Showers?” Mr. Showers’ secretary and I both fell out of our chairs in hysterics, and she said that if he weren’t married, she would do \*anything \*to set us up. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/7 "2011-08-19T01:01:33Z")
One of my instructors in Navy “A” School swore up and down that he once taught a female sailor whose last name was Swallows, who married another sailor named Spitzer - as in Seaman Spitzer-Swallows. I think he was yanking our chain though. Not really unfortunate, but I did work with a lady who married a husband with almost the same last name, and on a lark had her name legally changed to Phillips-Philips. They got divorced a couple years later, but she kept the name. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/8 "2011-08-19T01:02:04Z")
I know a Fagan-Dyke. Do I win? ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/9 "2011-08-19T01:03:38Z")
Love-Butts Boyes-Raper Seymour-Butts, Seymour-Beaver and so on ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/10 "2011-08-19T01:54:15Z")
we didn’t hyphenate because we would have been Peters-Payne. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/11 "2011-08-19T02:01:52Z")
A former boss of mine had an obituary on his bulletin board that he had clipped out of the newspaper just because the name was so funny. The woman’s name was something like Edna Mae Swallow-Cox. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/12 "2011-08-19T02:03:31Z")
Not a hyphenated name, but I took a reservation the other day from a lady who should have either kept her maiden name (if married) or kicked her parents (if single.) Her name was Eva Lee. I had the damnedest time not commenting or giggling… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/13 "2011-08-19T02:14:37Z")
I’ve posted this before but I know a lady named Cox-Ring. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/14 "2011-08-19T04:02:28Z")
Pool-Harden. Poor-Schmuck Also, note that author Julia Spencer-Fleming is married to Ross Hugo-Vidal. Now there’s a nightmare waiting to happen, except I believe they just gave the kids the Hugo-Vidal last name. Somebody think of the poor shlubs at the driver’s license bureau! ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/15 "2011-08-19T04:29:04Z")
I know a lady with the last name Zimmerman. She was dating a guy with the last name Orendorfer. We were hoping they would marry and she would hyphenate. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/16 "2011-08-19T08:00:33Z")
An ad I saw in my hometown announced the Squeek-Squelch wedding. I don’t know if the wife double-barrelled her name, but if she had she’d have been Anastasia Squeek-Squelch. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/17 "2011-08-19T12:53:58Z")
I heard when Rip Torn was married to Geraldine Page, their mailbox said “Torn-Page” > [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Not a hyphenated name, but I took a reservation the other day from a lady who should have either kept her maiden name (if married) or kicked her parents (if single.) Her name was Eva Lee. I had the damnedest time not commenting or giggling… I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/18 "2011-08-19T13:00:05Z")
My SIL’s maiden name was Pitt. My brother’s surname is Bull. They decided not to hyphenate. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/19 "2011-08-19T13:52:46Z")
I still have a clipping from a newspaper engagement announcement I found maybe 20 years ago. Mr. Boring became engaged to Ms. Bland. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227/20 "2011-08-19T14:02:36Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > I don’t get it. I suppose there’s a high risk of woosh with that handle, but “Evilly.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unfortunate-hyphenated-surname/593227.md?page=2)