# Parents: Can your millennial child sign his/her name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353 "2016-09-08T18:16:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/1 "2016-09-08T18:16:59Z")
[Inspired here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=803989) By sign, I mean an actual signature… _In cursive_ I just recently discovered my son doesn’t have a signature. He just prints his name. Never really much cared when they dropped cursive from schools, but this is something I never thought about. So, can your child sign their name in cursive? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/2 "2016-09-08T18:24:39Z")
Of course. But Bricker Jr attended Catholic school. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/3 "2016-09-08T18:35:24Z")
Sure can. 22 years old, public schools. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/4 "2016-09-08T18:39:41Z")
16, 14, 12, all can write in cursive, but prefer not to. Public schools as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/5 "2016-09-08T18:51:29Z")
Of course he can. 18 yrs old. He’s had an official “signature” ever since he opened his first bank account at age 10 and needed to “sign”. He signs his name differently on greeting cards and such, but so do I. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/6 "2016-09-08T19:10:31Z")
I think you will have to go to the generation after millenials to get many negative answers. I’m a millenial and cursive was definitely still part of the school curriculum. The oldest millenials are older than 30 now, you do realize, right? It’s Generation Z that are the high school and college age kids now. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/7 "2016-09-08T19:13:51Z")
Both teens can sign their names just fine, but my son prefers to render an indecipherable scribble for his signature, just like his old man. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/8 "2016-09-08T19:16:02Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > I think you will have to go to the generation after millenials to get many negative answers. I’m a millenial and cursive was definitely still part of the school curriculum. The oldest millenials are older than 30 now, you do realize, right? It’s Generation Z that are the high school and college age kids now. That’s probably true but in my mind, I was thinking anyone born after the late 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/9 "2016-09-08T19:27:43Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > [Inspired here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=803989) > > By sign, I mean an actual signature… _In cursive_ False premise. A signature is any mark that can be determined to be the one you customarily make as an willing mark of active assent and agreement to the contents of the signed document. I’m a tail-end Boomer and I assure you my signature looks nothing like my name in cursive. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/10 "2016-09-08T20:16:25Z")
My 17 year old can but I only remember seeing it on his Social Security card and drivers license. Usually he just prints. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/11 "2016-09-08T20:39:14Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > False premise. A signature is any mark that can be determined to be the one you customarily make as an willing mark of active assent and agreement to the contents of the signed document. > > I’m a tail-end Boomer and I assure you my signature looks nothing like my name in cursive. Seconded, a signature does not follow the rules you state in the OP, cursive is not necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/12 "2016-09-08T20:58:01Z")
My son (21) can. However, one of his classmates (back when he was in high school) went to get his learner’s permit and couldn’t because he didn’t know how to sign his name. His mother took him back home, taught him how and made him practice. Then took him back t get his learner’s. My son can’t write in cursive, he learned to read it so he could check out any notes I wrote to his school before he turned them in. Then he’d make me rewrite them without the snark. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/13 "2016-09-08T21:09:14Z")
Not a millennial or parent of one, but my name was only in legible cursive from about age 14 to 17. By the early 20’s, I’d settled into a signature that really only represents four letters, looking something like G\_\_\_t\_\_\_ R\_\_y\_\_\_ (using made-up letters). ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/14 "2016-09-08T21:13:27Z")
My dad prints his name for his signature, but he misses the cut-off to be a millennial by thirty or forty years. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/15 "2016-09-08T21:51:59Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Not a millennial or parent of one, but my name was only in legible cursive from about age 14 to 17. By the early 20’s, I’d settled into a signature that really only represents four letters, looking something like G\_\_\_t\_\_\_ R\_\_y\_\_\_ (using made-up letters). I’m like this. You can make out the first letter in my first name, the first letter in my last name, and the rest is squiggles. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/16 "2016-09-08T21:55:07Z")
Yes, but she is one of the oldest Millennials, and learned cursive in school. She also uses cursive in her job, writes checks, signs her credit cards, and does other tasks that use cursive. Which is not to say you can’t print all of those, but she writes. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/17 "2016-09-08T21:55:54Z")
My daughter is 11 and can write her name in cursive. I think they touched briefly on cursive in school but she learned because her third grade teacher wrote my daughter’s name in cursive on her report card. My daughter liked the way it looked and copied it. She has picked up how to read cursive but prints everything but her signature. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/18 "2016-09-08T22:18:50Z")
She’s 5 and she wants to … but realistically she’s only just mastered printing her name. But it’s definitely something she’s interested in, whenever she sees me sign my name she has me write hers in cursive and tries to copy it. It’s interesting to me that it’s so hard for her (a kid who is otherwise decent at drawing and printing for her age), especially because the letters in her name map fairly closely from printing to cursive, so there must really be something about the “flow” of cursive that is challenging. It’s still part of the curriculum at her school so I imagine she’ll pick it up eventually. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/19 "2016-09-08T22:20:17Z")
> [@Sahirrnee](#): > > However, one of his classmates (back when he was in high school) went to get his learner’s permit and couldn’t because he didn’t know how to sign his name. His mother took him back home, taught him how and made him practice. They were wrong. Writing in a distinct print of your name is a signature. There is no need for cursive. It can even be calligraphy or a squiggle. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353/20 "2016-09-08T22:21:46Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > It’s still part of the curriculum at her school so I imagine she’ll pick it up eventually. Too bad. Maybe they can join the 21st century. There is no need or use for cursive. Teach them keyboard use instead. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-can-your-millennial-child-sign-his-her-name/765353.md?page=2)