Hyphenated last names for kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10yo with hyphenated last name. Hasn't been a problem with passports, plane tickets, etc.

Wait until the said kid needs to deal with health insurance, credit report, drivers license, and myriad of other systems.

Huh?

Do you say this from experience?

I was born in 1978 with a hyphenated last name. Let's say Smithfield-Garcia. There have always been really minor, very occasional issues with things like, "oh, we [doctor's office] filed your paperwork in the cabinet under G instead of S" or whatever, but I've absolutely never had an issue with a driver's license, credit report, health insurance... "Worst" was when I applied for a new license in a new state and the clerk, on auto-pilot, seeing my hyphenated name, asked me for proof of name change. I pointed to Smithfield-Garcia on my birth certificate and that was the end of that.

It's not uncommon for something like a plane ticket to be printed as Smithfieldgarcia instead of Smithfield-Garcia or w/e, but the folks checking totally get it. No problem at all, even when the name runs out because it's too long (Smithfieldgar or something).

You do know that things like health insurance and credit reports also use unique identifiers like social security numbers, right?

Not only have I not really run into issues, keep in mind that I was having to apply for these things as early as the 1990s, when there were far fewer people with hyphenated names. Kids born now won't be applying until almost 2040! Pretty sure a lot of the computers and databases will have caught up by then.

I just don't get it. My name has been a minor pain at times, and then other times a minor boon-- like the fact that there's literally no one in the world with my full name, so it's hard to be confused with anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a training manager hyphenated names are a nightmare in an LMS system. Hate them with the fire of a thousand suns.

Fix your system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that when you get a hyphenated last name, you also get an entire phrase (for the rest of your life) as in “my name is Jane Smith-Jones that’s a hyphenated last name”

Forever and ever and ever and ever ....

Yep, or if you're in the south, depending on what the names are, they'll think your first name is a double name. Example, Sarah Burke Smith's first name is Sarah Burke and her last name is Smith, which southern people will understand, but Sarah Burke-Smith will be called Sarah Burke since they'll assume that's her first name since hyphenated last names aren't as common as double first names.

Anyone who has a hard time with something like hyphenated names is going to have a hard time with ethnic names and foreign names. They’re going to have a REALLY hard time dealing with the next generation of workers who aren’t all going to be named John Smith and Jane Jones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10yo with hyphenated last name. Hasn't been a problem with passports, plane tickets, etc.

Wait until the said kid needs to deal with health insurance, credit report, drivers license, and myriad of other systems.

Huh?

Do you say this from experience?

I was born in 1978 with a hyphenated last name. Let's say Smithfield-Garcia. There have always been really minor, very occasional issues with things like, "oh, we [doctor's office] filed your paperwork in the cabinet under G instead of S" or whatever, but I've absolutely never had an issue with a driver's license, credit report, health insurance... "Worst" was when I applied for a new license in a new state and the clerk, on auto-pilot, seeing my hyphenated name, asked me for proof of name change. I pointed to Smithfield-Garcia on my birth certificate and that was the end of that.

It's not uncommon for something like a plane ticket to be printed as Smithfieldgarcia instead of Smithfield-Garcia or w/e, but the folks checking totally get it. No problem at all, even when the name runs out because it's too long (Smithfieldgar or something).

You do know that things like health insurance and credit reports also use unique identifiers like social security numbers, right?

Not only have I not really run into issues, keep in mind that I was having to apply for these things as early as the 1990s, when there were far fewer people with hyphenated names. Kids born now won't be applying until almost 2040! Pretty sure a lot of the computers and databases will have caught up by then.

I just don't get it. My name has been a minor pain at times, and then other times a minor boon-- like the fact that there's literally no one in the world with my full name, so it's hard to be confused with anyone else.

Yes, I have a hyphenated last name from birth and I say this from experience. If it’s a choice whether to hyphenate or not, I’d avoid hyphenation.

[Anonymous]

I've known a few kids over the years who have hyphenated last names. Almost all of those kids specifically tell people there last name is just the first of the two names. Over time, they drop the second name when they introduce themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10yo with hyphenated last name. Hasn't been a problem with passports, plane tickets, etc.

Wait until the said kid needs to deal with health insurance, credit report, drivers license, and myriad of other systems.

Huh?

Do you say this from experience?

I was born in 1978 with a hyphenated last name. Let's say Smithfield-Garcia. There have always been really minor, very occasional issues with things like, "oh, we [doctor's office] filed your paperwork in the cabinet under G instead of S" or whatever, but I've absolutely never had an issue with a driver's license, credit report, health insurance... "Worst" was when I applied for a new license in a new state and the clerk, on auto-pilot, seeing my hyphenated name, asked me for proof of name change. I pointed to Smithfield-Garcia on my birth certificate and that was the end of that.

It's not uncommon for something like a plane ticket to be printed as Smithfieldgarcia instead of Smithfield-Garcia or w/e, but the folks checking totally get it. No problem at all, even when the name runs out because it's too long (Smithfieldgar or something).

You do know that things like health insurance and credit reports also use unique identifiers like social security numbers, right?

Not only have I not really run into issues, keep in mind that I was having to apply for these things as early as the 1990s, when there were far fewer people with hyphenated names. Kids born now won't be applying until almost 2040! Pretty sure a lot of the computers and databases will have caught up by then.

I just don't get it. My name has been a minor pain at times, and then other times a minor boon-- like the fact that there's literally no one in the world with my full name, so it's hard to be confused with anyone else.

Yes, I have a hyphenated last name from birth and I say this from experience. If it’s a choice whether to hyphenate or not, I’d avoid hyphenation.

So your drivers license, health insurance and credit reports were all messed up?

[Anonymous]

They are not ALL messed up but they are certainly different. My driver’s license does not have the hyphen, my health insurance does, 1 credit card doesn’t, 1 does, the credit report is all over the place with all possible variations including hyphen between the middle name and first part of last name and so on. My work email address looks weird: [e-mail] and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has your kid experienced any issues with one?

None. But her hyphenated name is just three syllables, ten letters.

[Anonymous]

So far no issues with a hyphenated last name. And we accidentally gave DD pretty long first and middle names as well. Had no idea the full length of her name until I was spelling it out for her first doctor's appointment!

[Anonymous]

I thought about doing this but ended up using my last name as middle name and DH last name as kids' last name. I think it was a good choice for us, but my last name definitely plays second fiddle to dad's, since often it gets dropped, where I think this wouldn't happen if hyphenated.

[Anonymous]

hate hyphenated names. just make one middle name and one last name. thats what we did and our kids say that they are grateful for that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plane tickets don't include hyphens; passports don't match. We did it, i worry it will be a pain when they are older.

Doesn't matter. At least in terms of tickets and passports.

[Anonymous]

And yet nobody gets up in arms about all those Dutch names with spaces (van der Berg) or Irish names with apostrophes (O’Connor)?

Genuinely confused

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a training manager hyphenated names are a nightmare in an LMS system. Hate them with the fire of a thousand suns.

Fix your system.

+1 that it should be fixed.

[Anonymous]

My kids got my (mom) last name. Their middle name is their dad's surname. I wasn't messing with hyphens.

I carried them, , I birthed them, I mostly raised them. They get my name. There was never a question about this and I would not have married a guy who didn't see the logic in this.

Pretty much every boyfriend I had agreed this makes the most sense.