What do the children of hyphenated parents do when THEY get married and have kids?
Hyhenated names of married people have not been around very long, but in 10 or 20 years from now, I can see some problems developing. Yeah, it may be cute for the first 2 men and women who do it and make their names hyphenated, but are they really causing problems for their kids.
If Mary Scott-Brown marries John Barr-Black, and their son is then named George Scott-Brown-Barr-Black, what happens if George falls in love with Susan Miller-Brazier-Waterstraat-Ilka?
The names of their kids will not fit into a normal name field of any data base, or on a drivers license or social security card.
Maybe they use a matrix configuration, using different combinations of the four surnames available:
First kid: Harold Scott-Barr
Second kid: Hortense Scott-Black
Third kid: Horatio Barr-Brown
Fourth kid: Helga Barr-Scott
Easy!
I didn’t hyphenate my last name (well, I did for a couple of years, until I divorced, then I went back to my maiden name), but my kids all have hyphenated last names.
Their names haven’t been a problem so far…they’re short enough to fit applications, forms, etc.
I leave it to their discretion to make whatever changes they like when they get older. Right now, one of them tends to use my last name and the other one usually goes by his father’s last name. All okay by me. Shortening by dropping one half of a hyphenated name isn’t a big deal, I believe, even if you want to do it legally.