What do you think of hyphenated names?

Our little girl will have 2 first names, but we decided on not using the hyphen. For instance (and this is not the name we have chosen, just another one I can think of)

Mary-Jane

We would name her Mary Jane instead with 2 first names and no hyphen.

I realize names like Jon-Paul are (and have been) popular in France.

In the digital age, I think they create a problem in English-speaking countries.

If the hyphen gets dropped, Jon-Paul Steven Smith could become Jon Paul Smith or Jon PS Smith.

Now imagine the doctor ordering necessary antibiotics for Jon-Paul Smith but the pharmacy lists him as Jon Smith or, possibly, Jon P Smith. Valuable time is wasted trying to sort this out.

The list of duplicate records extends to educational and governmental as well. Anyone with a hyphenated first or surname is encouraged to check their SSA records frequently as they can easily have two or more files which will create absolute havoc if the person is entitled to benefits such as survivorship monies.

So, in English-speaking countries, I'd never choose to simply make my child's life difficult all for a small grammatical mark.

i've gone through baby naming time before and think that the shorter and surely the most-meaningful name, the easier it is for: baby; parent(s); everyone.

no i'd not hyphenate my own child's name or my own. plus unusual names have a knack of somewhat paving the way for unusual lives for their owners. so when choosing a name, i'd stick with unique-but-known favorites.

if two names are preferred as in your example, why not unify without hyphenation and with traditional spelling? (ie: JohnPaul; Maryanne.) traditionally spelled names avoid mispellings based only on how they're heard.

a friend's full name was so long, unusual and phonetic that he suitably shortened it to end hassles and a long signature in his career. (it seemed unnecessary to tell his aged mom!) another friend had originally chosen to hyphenate her last name with her husband's last name; she later dropped one name to avoid hand-cramping and a lack-of-space!

Some hyphenated names are nice...my best friends name is Loren-Jai (lauren jay) and it is unique as are most hyphenated names. I'm not sure if I'd name my baby like that...maybe if it suited his/her personality or look :)

I strongly dislike them. I don't care if you give your child two first names (i.e instead of Jon-Paul middlename lastname, It's Jon Paul middlename lastname), but I hate it when hyphenate them.

I would never do it.

It depends on what the names are. Double-barreling usually works best when at least one of the names is monosyllabic, otherwise you end up with quite a mouthful. Here are some examples of proper hyphenated names.

Mary-Ann

Mary-Beth

Mary-Frances (popular in Victorian times)

Mary-Kate

Mary-Lou

Ann-Marie

Ann-Margaret

Anna-Louise (my best friend's sister is named this)

Anna-Sophia

Lynn-Marie

Lynn-Renee

Sarah-Beth

Sarah-Kate

Sarah-Jo

Valuable time is wasted trying to sort this out.

I like them

Like the name Kunta-Kinte

it is pretty name