Southern Tradition of Women Hyphenating Last Name

[VySky]

Something apparently, as the topic is posted in United States Politics..
So I think that is a question on you to answer.

Point taken.

 

[VySky]

Why does it matter whether or not a woman takes her husband’s name?

Explain

I did. In the opening thread. Did you answer the question? I’m about to go into the restaurant.

I’ll check back later.

 

[jpevans]

This is two first names, or using the first and middle as one. This has nothing to do with hyphenating maiden and last names.

You are confused.

The only time I see this happening is on Facebook, so old friends from school can see who we were.

Jim Bob & Stevie Ray have a ring to them & delinerate Jim Tom & Stevie Oscar from the former. I recently found out my niece Carol Anne was two words, after 50 years.

 

[jpevans]

Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first instance of such I can recall, and I lived and worked mostly in the South without ever encountering any hyphenated last name Women.

Some folks think committing to a husband is ending any connection to your roots. They feel that a women's place is in submission to the husband. Making America Great Again like the 1800's.

 

[roguenuke]

Thank me later

How The Double-Name Trend Started And Stayed In The South

When you hear us calling for Sarah Jean or Bobbi Sue, you know you're in the South. Here's how the trend got started and why it remains popular today.

www.southernliving.com

Oh no, Southern Tradition is making a claim and we should all just accept it?

You do realize that no one has to do this, right? That adults, parents choose the name the last name their kids use, have? This was even discussed in Friends, a show in the 90s about young to middle age adults living in NYC.

 

[roguenuke]

My wife keeps her maiden name, I don't own her. Why change a name?

Some of us were happy to change our name and marriage provided us with an opportunity to do so for free. I hated my maiden name, especially being in the military.

 

[Lovebug]

That's not last names.

Lol, right?

 

[roguenuke]

I was born and raised here. Rarely have I seen this. Maybe you are confused?

Don’t you have a migrant horde to complain about?

I have seen some people wrongly use my mother's maiden name as her middle name, but she never changed it to that. And none of us kids have her maiden name as part of our last name. His entire premise is convoluted.

 

[multivita-man]

Cool. The Mason Dixon line wasn't an issue

These Family Tradition Ideas To Start With Your Kids Will Bring Everyone Closer Together

Game night, anybody? Whether done weekly, monthly, annually, or for special occasions, these fun family tradition ideas will bring your family closer together.

www.southernliving.com

This isn't related to your OP, though. Married women who hyphenate names isn't a Southern tradition, as far as I know. In fact it seems to be more of a non-Southern thing.

But what you're referring to in this post is the very Southern tradition of children using the surname on the mother's side of the family as either first or middle name. Sometimes it can be a paternal or maternal grandparent lineage as well. For example, let's say an Alabama couple has a boy named Jefferson Jackson Smith. Smith's the father's surname. Jackson's the mother's maiden name. Jefferson might be in reference to a grand/great grand parent on either side. But he'd go through life being called Jeff or Jack Smith.

Another Southern tradition, of course, is to give the kid, especially boys, a hand-me-down name. Jefferson Jackson Smith Jr., III, IV...

 

[roguenuke]

Jim Bob & Stevie Ray have a ring to them & delinerate Jim Tom & Stevie Oscar from the former. I recently found out my niece Carol Anne was two words, after 50 years.

I actually did date a Joe Bob once. That was his legal name even on his military ID.

 

[Airyaman]

This isn't related to your OP, though. Married women who hyphenate names isn't a Southern tradition, as far as I know. In fact it seems to be more of a non-Southern thing.

But what you're referring to in this post is the very Southern tradition of children using the surname on the mother's side of the family as either first or middle name. Sometimes it can be a paternal or maternal grandparent lineage as well. For example, let's say an Alabama couple has a boy named Jefferson Jackson Smith. Smith's the father's surname. Jackson's the mother's maiden name. Jefferson might be in reference to a grand/great grand parent on either side. But he'd go through life being called Jeff or Jack Smith.

Another Southern tradition, of course, is to give the kid, especially boys, a hand-me-down name. Jefferson Jackson Smith Jr., III, IV...

Everything I see related to "southern" and "two names" is what we already find here: Peggy Sue, Mary Ellen, Tammy Lynn, etc. It has nothing to do with hyphenation of surname and married name.

 

[Superfly]

I have seen some people wrongly use my mother's maiden name as her middle name, but she never changed it to that. And none of us kids have her maiden name as part of our last name. His entire premise is convoluted.

Not surprising with him. It’s par for the course.

 

[roguenuke]

Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first instance of such I can recall, and I lived and worked mostly in the South without ever encountering any hyphenated last name Women.

I think Ruth Bader Ginsburg also went by her maiden name as middle name. But then she apparently moved her middle name to her first name too. And she was from NYC.

In fact, 4 of the 6 women to be on our SCOTUS had their maiden name listed as their middle name. Sandra Day O'connell, RBG, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. However, they were also 2 from the South (conservative lean also) and 2 from more Northern places, NYC and DC (and both those liberal lean).

 

[multivita-man]

Everything I see related to "southern" and "two names" is what we already find here: Peggy Sue, Mary Ellen, Tammy Lynn, etc. It has nothing to do with hyphenation of surname and married name.

Peggy Sue and Tammy Lynn are two first names, which I suppose you do see in the South and elsewhere for that matter. I was referring to the traditional Southern practice of using two surnames as given names - that is most definitely a Southern thing. But that's not the example he cited in his OP, so I agree that he got himself - and the rest of us - confused a bit.

 

[roguenuke]

Peggy Sue and Tammy Lynn are two first names, which I suppose you do see in the South and elsewhere for that matter. I was referring to the traditional Southern practice of using two surnames as given names - that is most definitely a Southern thing. But that's not the example he cited in his OP, so I agree that he got himself - and the rest of us - confused a bit.

Except it really isn't a "Southern thing", as both Ruth Bader Ginsburg (born and raised in NYC) and Kentaji Brown Jackson (born in DC) apparently did it. I think it may be more common in the South for people to assume women have done this, as, like I mentioned earlier, I saw my mother's name written both ways growing up, using her legal middle name (she didn't change it legally to her maiden name) and her maiden name used as a middle name.

 

[multivita-man]

Except it really isn't a "Southern thing", as both Ruth Bader Ginsburg (born and raised in NYC) and Kentaji Brown Jackson (born in DC) apparently did it. I think it may be more common in the South for people to assume women have done this, as, like I mentioned earlier, I saw my mother's name written both ways growing up, using her legal middle name (she didn't change it legally to her maiden name) and her maiden name used as a middle name.

Not talking about women. Re-read what I wrote

 

[Airyaman]

Except it really isn't a "Southern thing", as both Ruth Bader Ginsburg (born and raised in NYC) and Kentaji Brown Jackson (born in DC) apparently did it. I think it may be more common in the South for people to assume women have done this, as, like I mentioned earlier, I saw my mother's name written both ways growing up, using her legal middle name (she didn't change it legally to her maiden name) and her maiden name used as a middle name.

I see it less as a regional thing and more of a status thing. That is to say, when a woman has a certain status, she will tend to keep her maiden name and combine it with her married name. The two you mentioned come to mind, as does Amy Coney Barrett (who tbf was born in Louisiana and spent much of her life there).

 

[roguenuke]

Not talking about women. Re-read what I wrote

But the OP was, and as surnames, then he claimed that it was something that moved on to children (something I've never seen happen when a woman moved her maiden name to her middle name though). The only time I've seen a child's name hyphenated is when the parents decided to do that, and normally it wasn't because the woman moved her maiden name to middle, as the OP suggested, but rather when she kept her own and the parents wanted both lineages recognized. I've maybe seen this once or twice in real life (there were a few in the military) and it was discussed on Friends in the first season while Ross was discussing baby names with Susan and Carol and they said the baby was going to have Willick-Bunch and Ross wanted to be added there, so "Geller-Willick-Bunch".

 

[VySky]

Oh no, Southern Tradition is making a claim and we should all just accept it?

Where did you read that?

 

[VySky]

This isn't related to your OP, though. Married women who hyphenate names isn't a Southern tradition, as far as I know. In fact it seems to be more of a non-Southern thing.

But what you're referring to in this post is the very Southern tradition of children using the surname on the mother's side of the family as either first or middle name. Sometimes it can be a paternal or maternal grandparent lineage as well. For example, let's say an Alabama couple has a boy named Jefferson Jackson Smith. Smith's the father's surname. Jackson's the mother's maiden name. Jefferson might be in reference to a grand/great grand parent on either side. But he'd go through life being called Jeff or Jack Smith.

Another Southern tradition, of course, is to give the kid, especially boys, a hand-me-down name. Jefferson Jackson Smith Jr., III, IV...

Thanks. Everyone seems to be hung up on the tradition part.