# Musing on hyphenated names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 10, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662 "2007-02-10T22:25:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/1 "2007-02-10T22:25:28Z")
When my daughter got married, she kept her name, hyphenated with her husband’s. Not having much to do today, I began to muse on these hyphenated names. So, if Helen Brannigan married William Flannigan, she would become Helen Brannigan-Flannigan. That’s OK, but if they had a daughter, Psyche Brannigan-Flannigan who married a guy named James Milligan-Gilligan, and they had a daughter, her name would then become Nancy Brannigan-Flannigan-Milligan-Gilligan. A few more generations and we could have Diana Brannigan-Flannigan-Milligan-Gilligan- Duffy-McGuffy-Malarkey-Malone-Rafferty-Lafferty-Donnoly-Connoly-Dooley-O’Hooley-Marlarky-Schmidt. It boggles the mind… ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/2 "2007-02-10T22:40:10Z")
I have to say it’s unlikely. Who calls their kid Nancy these days? (I did once know a young lady named Sharon who married Mr Harron…). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/3 "2007-02-10T22:40:21Z")
Just to get it out of the way, you’re not really wanting to see any of those things like: Ella Fitzgerald marries Darth Vader to become Ella Vader are you? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/edb3f5/32.png) [@Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Push_Up_Bra)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/4 "2007-02-10T22:43:34Z")
It boggles the mind that you sat down and thought about this. Though, Brannigan-Flannigan-Milligan-Gilligan- Duffy-McGuffy-Malarkey-Malone-Rafferty-Lafferty-Donnoly-Connoly-Dooley-O’Hooley-Marlarky-Schmidt does have a certain ring to it… excuse me, I’m going to go start this trend by marrying a Brannigan… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/5 "2007-02-10T22:54:21Z")
Are people still into the hyphenating thing, or was that a nineties thing? It’s going to be annoying for a certain number of kids, of course, but my impression is that it was a fad, and people are picking one name or another, or making up a new one, or keeping their maiden name but as a middle name, instead of hyphenating (For the record, I’ve wondered the same thing, as two of my kid’s friends are “dating” and they both have hyphenated last names.) ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/6 "2007-02-10T22:58:44Z")
[QUOTE=KlondikeGeoff] A few more generations and we could have Diana Brannigan-Flannigan-Milligan-Gilligan- Duffy-McGuffy-Malarkey-Malone-Rafferty-Lafferty-Donnoly-Connoly-Dooley-O’Hooley-Marlarky-Schmidt. [/QUOTE] See, that will never happen, because somewhere along the line, someone is bound to marry an Italian. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/7 "2007-02-10T23:02:09Z")
Léone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudati-filius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache probably had a complex family tree. /British Army captain who died in WWI, and owner of the best name ever ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/8 "2007-02-10T23:25:29Z")
I should have added a 😃 to the end of my post. Don’t want it to be misconstrued in any way!!! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/9 "2007-02-10T23:26:36Z")
My last name’s hyphenated. There’s no way I’m keeping it after I get married. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/10 "2007-02-10T23:30:18Z")
Hyphenated last names bug me (my own most of all.) My parents, in their refusal to remain either firmly in the 60’s (when they came of age) or the 80’s (when they married and had me), did this: Mom kept her last name when they married. Dad also kept his name. Then they had kids and decided to give us both last names so that A) our names didn’t match our parents, B) we’d go through life having computers reject us, and C) no one would ever ‘get it’ the first time they saw our name (teachers, doctors, camp counselors, etc). For the love of god, don’t hyphenate last names. Pick one. Pick a random name if you must. But pick _one_! ---
**Author:** ![Barrels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@Barrels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrels)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/11 "2007-02-11T02:32:20Z")
I have a hyphenated last name and I’m not married. When my mom married my step-dad, I tried to ditch my embarrassing to me, at the time, old last name and take his plain normal last name. After a while I decided that while I didn’t like the last name, I did love the family it stood for and wanted to be a part of it. So I started hyphenating. The problem is that when you take the first last name and the second last name and put them together, it sounds like a subdivision. Like Oak-Fields or Maple-Hills. Since my step-dad is no longer a part of my life I am trying to go back to my original name, but since I had fought for so long to get it this way, I might be SOL. Barrels ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/12 "2007-02-11T03:14:45Z")
I think that British guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low has one of the more melodious hyphenated last names. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/13 "2007-02-11T05:32:38Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Just to get it out of the way, you’re not really wanting to see any of those things like: Ella Fitzgerald marries Darth Vader to become Ella Vader are you? [/QUOTE] That keeps coming up. ---
**Author:** ![Agonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@Agonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agonist)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/14 "2007-02-11T06:53:17Z")
I humbly submit my Solution to the too-many-hyphenated-names problem. Of course, in order for it to work everyone has to adopt my Solution, over the course of generations. (I need to get my campaign going to change our family traditions.) Here it is: 1. Adam Smith marries Betty Jones. They both hyphenate their names to Smith-Jones. Their kids also have the last name Smith-Jones. 2. Cecil Smith-Jones marries Donna Jefferson-Parker. _(Here’s the clever part.)_ Cecil drops his mother’s name (Jones) and adopts his wife’s mother’s name (Parker) instead. Donna drops her father’s name and takes Cecil’s father’s name. The new couple is now Cecil and Donna Smith-Parker. 3. When Cecil and Donna’s kids get married, the boys keep Smith but drop Parker, while the girls keep Parker but drop Smith. And so on through the ages. The way it works, then, is that everyone has two last names: a paternal line and a maternal line. You don’t get to keep them all, but you honor the history of twice the number of family lines, and you don’t have the inherent sexism of a single paternal line or the silly-but-fair-to-everyone long names. Plus I just like the idea of honoring my mother’s mother’s mother’s family along with my father’s father’s father’s. So, whaddaya say? Wanna join the fight for sensible hyphens? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OBJECTION](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/fbc32d/32.png) [@OBJECTION](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OBJECTION)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/15 "2007-02-11T07:16:12Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Just to get it out of the way, you’re not really wanting to see any of those things like: Ella Fitzgerald marries Darth Vader to become Ella Vader are you? [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t that just make her Ella Skywalker? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/16 "2007-02-11T13:46:18Z")
[QUOTE=OBJECTION!!] Wouldn’t that just make her Ella Skywalker? [/QUOTE] To be sure! ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/17 "2007-02-11T13:52:48Z")
My mother didn’t want to take my father’s last name when they got married. Originally, I was going to just get her last name, but my father’s parents didn’t like that idea, so I got them both, with a hyphen in between. The name doesn’t fit on anything, I have to explain it to everybody, _and_ I can’t even google it to find out what other people with my name are doing, as none exist. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/18 "2007-02-11T14:05:55Z")
**KlondikeGeoff,** I’m curious. Did you shake hands with your sister Kate in dear ofd Donegal? ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/19 "2007-02-11T17:08:55Z")
[QUOTE=Cheez\_Whia] **KlondikeGeoff,** I’m curious. Did you shake hands with your sister Kate in dear ofd Donegal? [/QUOTE] Ah, faith and b’gorra, **Cheez** , you win the pot 'o gold, being the first one to recognize that song. For the life of me I can’t understand how I rememer all the words to it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662/20 "2007-02-11T17:36:45Z")
[QUOTE=Agonist] The way it works, then, is that everyone has two last names: a paternal line and a maternal line. [/QUOTE] Yes, but why is your paternal grandfather given precedence over your maternal one? This scheme is also unfair, just in a new way. Let’s face it, folks: fairness is impractical 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musing-on-hyphenated-names/391662.md?page=2)