A question about Names

[ismaco]

I’m writing a humorous fic and I found out I don’t know something that apparently it’s a bit stupid… and I believe anyone, who was born in de UK or in USA, can help me.

If you have children, what usually happens is, if the parents are married and the mother had adopted her husband’s name, that the children would have the last name of the father. The question is if that happens even if the mother conserved her last name (doesn’t matter why).

That’s about the last names. Now, about the names:

As far as I know, in England (just as in the US) people have always more than one name:
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, William Jefferson Clinton, Tony Charles Lynton Blair, etc. Is it a rule that the first name is the one the people will use to call the kid? I mean, if my name is Ashley Katherine Fischer, Am I supposed to use the name Ashley? I mean, maybe it’s an unwritten rule, I just want to know.

Well, that’s it! I hope you can help me, and I’m sorry to ask a bunch of stupid questions, it’s just that where I live, the rules are different: There is no rule about the number of names (I’m only Isabel which is a problem when I need to fill forms from the US), but you always have to have two last names (some people even have three or four), usually your first last name comes from your father and your second from your mother.

Anyway… thanks a lot!
Isabel

PS. Again, I’m sorry if you can’t understand everything I wanted to say. As you can certainly see, English is not my first language. (and I need to write two pages to say what a normal person can write in two lines *flushes*)

[EloquentPhoenix]

In the UK to my knowledge and experience

Last names - If the mother keeps her own name some children still have their father's/mother's, others have both. For example if it were Minerva and Albus (perfect example). The children could be called McGonagall or Dumbledore or McGonagall-Dumbledore or Dumbledore-McGonagall. It doesn't really matter that much, people use different things depending on what they like and what sounds the best. My best friend has two surnames, the first is her mum's and the second her dad's.

As for just the names or middle names, most people just use the first one. Although some do use both names it is less common and fewer people do. But that's not to say you can't do it.

And for the record, I'm only Amy and have no middle name, which is often better because I know people with middle names that they really hate.

And I thought what you posted was easy to understand, providing I have understood it properly

[Isabelle]

To the best of knowledge, most children are given their father's surname when the parents are married. I'm acception to that as I have my mother's surname because my mom and dad were never married.

I do know some people who have hyphenated last names at school, but I don't think it really makes a difference. It's either their choice or their parent's whether or not they have both or only one last name and how it's written.

Also about first and middle names, most parents normally address their children by their first names, at least in my neck of the woods they do. Usually the middle name is just a baptismal name, in my religion it is anyway, but it can also be for legal means, though it's not really that important. Sometimes a person may be called by their middle name because for example there could be more than one person with the same name in a class. For a while I went by Madeline, which I abhor, because there was another Liz in my class.

I hope that helps and that it makes sense. If anyone else has a different take on this from the US, please correct me if I'm wrong!

Liz

[Sensiblyquirky]

I second most of what has been said, and will only address the first/second name issue. Most go by their first name, or a shortened version of that, but some can go by both their first and second names or just their second. For example my mother's name is Constance Dayl, and she goes by Dayl. Yet on all formal documents she must sign Constance rather than Dayl, because Constance is her 'formal name.' So in a sense the first gets precedence. You can use both, for example a cousin of mine is Emma Grace, Emma being her first, Grace her second but we refer to her by using both.

To be honest it doesn't really matter. You can call and refer to your kid whatever you want, and they can change it at 18 if they abhor it.

I could understand you perfectly, so no worries there.

Christy

[ismaco]

Thank you EloquentPhoenix, Liz and Christy!!
I guess all my ideas were OK, I just needed to confirm them all.

If I ever finish my fic, and I dare to post it (actually, I still need a beta reader if someone wants the job) you'd understand all my questions....

The fic is an adaptation of a personal anecdote about the reaction of my boyfriend after I told him that, in case we have any children, my last name should better be placed first, and his last name second (I really don't care but he was scandalized with the idea), only because "it sounds better"

After that, every time he suggests a funny name for our kids I only have to remind him my fabulous idea, and he immediately takes back. I choose the names if he has the first last name. A nice bargain, don't you think?

Thanks again... and I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

[Amandah Leigh]

It really all depends on the preference of the parents. I know a girl named Phonsevahn who has a very long last name, and people call her Candy, which I think is her middle name. I have another friend who's middle name is simply V. Alexandra V. My brother is called by his initials, TP.

As for last names, most people do go with the father's last name, even in many cases where the parents are not married. Personally I like my long Greek last name and plan to namemy first born daughter Antigone (which is very Greek) so I would probably hyphenate her name as I plan to do with mine (for example, if I were Brown and my husband were Black she'd be Antigone Margaret Brown-Black, and probably nicknamed Molly). Sometimes people do the opposite and have the father's name before the mothers, but I don't think it's as common, at least as far as I've seen.

My cousin Amelia Rose is often called by both her first and middle names, whereas her sister Abigail Holly is just Abby.

[emeraldtabby]

My Aunt kept her maiden name and her kids I think use both last names with the hyphen. The only problem is addressing christmas cards as we can't say Mr. And Mrs. Hinnant, but we have to split it up.
With first and Middle names, mine can be an example of something odd. My first name is the same as my mum's, Rebecca, and her family thought it would be too confusing to address us by the same name, so they called me by my middle name, Victoria, which my sister couldn't pronounce when she was little, so they had to think of a nickname for that, (Tory) and then last year I gained a new name through confirmation, Brigid.
Most of my friends go by their first name, but a few of us go by our middle names, usually because so many people have our first name. And this drives the teachers crazy as our first names are on the attendence and only the middle initial.

[Amandah Leigh]

in many classes in high school, and most classes in college, the professors on day one go around and do attendance and ask students what they like to be called so it can go right onthe attendance sheet. So Candy was Candy always, and I can opt to use my nickname (though I usually don't) and other people can be known by their initials or whatever. I like that system.