double-barrel surnames - why are they the of the sole domain of the upper classes?

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it's not as if pretentiousness itself costs a bomb. what's the logic here? looking at my mother's maiden name i'm so glad we weren't posh, in that respect (doesn't go with my surname at all).

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:30 (twenty-one years ago)

apologies for crap thread-titling typo

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Because breeding is more important to them? The Featherstonehaugh-Cholmondleys are perhaps a cut above the Cholmondleys by themselves.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I hesitate to bring in another US vs UK comparison, but the kids I grew up around who had double-barrelled names all had them as a result of divorce, and/or hippyish parents who double-barrelled when they got married. I didn't encounter the posh connotation until I moved to the UK.

― sgs (sgs), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Because the lower classes don't have any property.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

They're not. Lots of people I know have grandfathers etc. who rolled out the barrel, as it were. Also a big feature of '70s-'80s American NPR yuppies, or people who work in the media who have parity in their careers worth passing in neptism onto offspring. All very lower-to-middle class but aspiring to upper-middle.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Only they can afford the extra monogramming costs.

― winterland, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it was part of not wanting the family name to die out in certain situations.

So, Percy Drinkinson marries Charlotte Watneys. As the Watneys have more money/status, they agree that He stays Drinkinson, She becomes Watneys-Drinkinson, and the kids take the double barrelled version, or not, as they choose, on reaching maturity.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes. I know a Booth-Clibborn who only uses Booth.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Featherstonehaugh-Cholmondleys?

weren't they a dance company?

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I know a couple of feminist double-barrellings - they each took the other's name as well as their own when they got married.

― Madchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:38 (twenty-one years ago)

So am I the only one who's noticed divorce giving the kids alone the double-barrel?

― sgs (sgs), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Suzy - also YOUR BOYFRIEND!

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I always thought that the original double-barrel was from two upper-middle class families who wanted to announce a new union had created a better new family, or where the daughter's family were damned if the name died out.

More recently though, I thought they were the preserve of lefties of a middle-class bent who didn't like the gender implications. I'd count myself in that.

― Dave B (daveb), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:43 (twenty-one years ago)

And Shaun Wright-Phillips.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, double-barrelling is surely getting increasingly classless these days, for the above reasons.

A former colleague and his partner, not wanting to go along with patriarchal tradition, changed their surname to something completely different when they got married. Then he shagged around, they broke up and he reverted to his 'maiden name'. This was quite confusing, what with him being a journalist.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I think in the post-family twenty-first century we should see marriage as an opportunity to generate lots of lovely new names. Like a bank or advertising firm changing their name from that of the founders to something unspeakably wonderful like Insignia or Accenture or Monday, young folk getting hitched should come up with a new name that represents their common core values and goals.

They could even use the brand generator: http://www.whatbrandareyou.com/

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:46 (twenty-one years ago)

According to the generator I will henceforth be Stevie Thinc.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)

(Matt: see the grandfather example in my post)

No, I was going to get to that - but it has a great deal of overlap with the NPR posse. Kids with more blue-collar or conservative backgrounds who get divorced do not generally hyphenate, rather Mom waffles and explains or keeps the married name if it is more interesting than, say, Johnson.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)

A former colleague and his partner, not wanting to go along with patriarchal tradition, changed their surname to something completely different when they got married.

We have debated this too, but I think I will have to keep my name now I'm an Famous Poet hemhem. No double-barelling though: Playforth-Holland sounds even more wanky than most.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Nick ...Everfast?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually forget Playf0rth - I am 'ARCHEL FREQUENTIA'!

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Andrew Inexperta.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Ailsa Qualibit. That's just hideous.

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:57 (twenty-one years ago)

hahaha

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh my god. I am Hanna Vulgo. I am going to cry now.

― Hanna (Hanna), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:02 (twenty-one years ago)

dick indicko

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Dave Fanaticus. I like that...

― Dave B (daveb), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Mark Caffeinade?

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

IR Matt Universus.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not upper class, I'd just had a grandfather, who owned a shop, with pretensions.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I know a girl who's middle class and has a double-barrel name. (Her parents had divorced years ago. she recently decided to carry both parents' surnames. Mucho coolio imo.)

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:20 (twenty-one years ago)

It always sounds weird in the US, imho. Esp. when the names joined aren't specifically anglo-sounding. When a couple of eastern euro names get joined or some other combo not ur-english, it just sounds like a personal injury law firm.

― Skottie, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

hope you weren't offended by my foolish sweeping generalisation Mr Lynch-Bell

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:45 (twenty-one years ago)

What about double barrel first names - why are they the domain of the lower class? (ie: Lula Mae, Sue Ann, Mary Lee...)

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Mary-Anything is Catholic, rather than working class, per se. (Draw your own religion-class conclusions as you see fit.)

― Super-Kate (kate), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I am Liz Ruina. Ph34r me?

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:06 (twenty-one years ago)

A lot of bands are adopting the practice. To wit:

Busted-New Kids on the Block

What...they aren't?

― Skottie, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Once you already have 4 syllables in your surname, you don't really want any more.

(p.s. Mark Globall at your service, and service is the word!)

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Julia Togethia (hmmm...two names ending in -a doesn't quite work for me)

― j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I've got my mum's maiden name for a middle name. It means I'm not double barrelled, which is good. It means I've got a girl's name though, which is bad.

― JimD (JimD), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Chris Justicia? Gag...

― ...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Justicia: For Thrusting Client Focus.

― ...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

WHOA, I just did JtN's brand name thing and I am PUBESCO!!

― mandee, Wednesday, 7 April 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

you sure are baby!

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

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