To hyphenate or not. Help me decide!

[xakikox]

We initially weren't going to find out the sex until my baby shower in June, but my dad couldn't keep the excitement to himself, so we found out we're having a little girl

We're naming her Isabel (it's literally one of 4 names out of 500 that we both agree on)
WaiMan as a middle name to pay tribute to my Chinese heritage.

We're in the process of debating between hyphenating or not. I'm just worried it's going to be very long..

It's either going to be

Isabel WaiMan Gude
OR
Isabel WaiMan Gude-Lam

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

I had a hyphened name, and it caused me nothing but trouble when it came to paperwork and getting agencies to spell my name correctly, and to include the hyphen so the paperwork matched my birth certificate/ID. As an adult I ended up going to court and legally changing my name from four names to three so I could get rid of the hyphen entirely. Haven't had a problem since!

(I could have just been extremely unlucky though)

Isabel is a pretty name, congrats on your little girl!

 

[techheather]

I'm not a fan of hyphen names. They are confusing on paper work at hospital. Sometimes never sure which way it goes the way it prints. But I guess I don't live/ raised in an area that it's common. I just never understood the point of it. I have a long maiden name. And would of been MAD had my parents did that. Lol my ours is short so that wouldn't be terrible.

 

[2have4kids]

The simpler the better, Isabel is a lovely name.

 

[RoseJeans]

I hope I'm not butting in here, as I've just joined the forums, but my daughter's first name is hyphenated and it always gets mixed up, it's Sabel-Rose but they only say the 1st half! So we just all call her Sabes for less confusion.

Also, my best friend married and hyphenated her last name and it's now 6 syllables long! Which is both a mouthful when she introduces herself and always creates errors on paperwork - She's a teacher too so the kids can't grasp it too easy.

At the end of the day, you decide, but from experience I think no hyphen for Isabel's sake

 

[CarolinDallas]

I have a hyphenated last name (paternal-maternal.) I only use the paternal part at work or everyday things. For official documents I use the whole thing. I just spell it if I'm on the phone or present my ID in person.

You could also use Gudelam as one word instead. Sadly, I think people are going to butcher it with our without hyphen because "it's not common." Good luck!

 

[Eleanor ace]

I have two surnames (no hyphen) so it might be different, but I never really encountered any problems with it. Occasionally people would just use my first surname as my second was very uncommon, long and (apparently) hard to say. I kept one of my surnames and replaced the other with my husbands name and I've not had any problems with it this time either, and neither gets dropped because they're both easy to pronounce.

 

[ZooMa]

We gave our kids a combo surname to avoid they hyphen. We both have one syllable surnames that fairly well so fortunately it was possible for us.

 

[2have4kids]

I have a common male name as my surname and people sometimes email respond using that name instead of my first name. People will be inattentive at the best of times even when there are 2 easy names to use. I still get asked how to spell Kirk! But for the sake of the child, I always think that keeping it simple is the kindest thing for them considering how silly some people are when it comes to getting names right.

 

[Indi84]

I'm a fan of keeping it simple! My niece and nephew have hyphenated first names but we only ever call them by the first one or they are such a mouthful!

 

[Caitie44]

I have a hyphenated surname (maternal-paternal), and as Kitteh_Kat said, it's caused me problems nonstop. Whether it was paperwork or just confusing people in general, I hated having a hyphenated name and now just go by the maternal part of my surname.

 

[mummyruston]

My DD and my unborn baby will have hyphenated surname of Ruston-Smith

I guess the second name Smith is very common so less likely to create confusion but here in UK hyphenated surnames are quite the norm.

 

[RoseJeans]

I have a common male name as my surname and people sometimes email respond using that name instead of my first name. People will be inattentive at the best of times even when there are 2 easy names to use. I still get asked how to spell Kirk! But for the sake of the child, I always think that keeping it simple is the kindest thing for them considering how silly some people are when it comes to getting names right.

I had the exact same issue until I married! My last name was a first name and vice versa. It got old pretty quick!

 

[2have4kids]

I have a common male name as my surname and people sometimes email respond using that name instead of my first name. People will be inattentive at the best of times even when there are 2 easy names to use. I still get asked how to spell Kirk! But for the sake of the child, I always think that keeping it simple is the kindest thing for them considering how silly some people are when it comes to getting names right.

I had the exact same issue until I married! My last name was a first name and vice versa. It got old pretty quick!

Hey, glad to hear you were able to resolve it. My maiden name was a little longer than Kirk...Beattie so then people were always asking how you spell that one. I mean come on! I thought changing to Kirk would resolve it however I not only get the 'how do you spell that' but people calling me Kirk rather than my first name all the time now I just feel so sorry for the really garishly complicated names that could be simple but aren't because mom/dad wanted to be super original.

 

[RoseJeans]

I have a common male name as my surname and people sometimes email respond using that name instead of my first name. People will be inattentive at the best of times even when there are 2 easy names to use. I still get asked how to spell Kirk! But for the sake of the child, I always think that keeping it simple is the kindest thing for them considering how silly some people are when it comes to getting names right.

I had the exact same issue until I married! My last name was a first name and vice versa. It got old pretty quick!

Hey, glad to hear you were able to resolve it. My maiden name was a little longer than Kirk...Beattie so then people were always asking how you spell that one. I mean come on! I thought changing to Kirk would resolve it however I not only get the 'how do you spell that' but people calling me Kirk rather than my first name all the time now I just feel so sorry for the really garishly complicated names that could be simple but aren't because mom/dad wanted to be super original.

Oh no you poor thing! Marry another guy lol! Why do they ask how to spell Kirk? I can't think of many ways it could be changed? Beattie I can though.

DH has an interesting name, both first and last! Poor guy, every time he orders a coffee he just uses my name (which always gets spelled wrong) because it's easier to understand! The fact that both my maiden name and first name are also boys names didn't help either. The amount of mail I still get labelled MR...ugh. Imagine the surprise when I call people and I'm a lady! Gasp!

Our daughter has a little bit of issue with spelling but it's not a big deal it's Sabel-Rose but generally it's Sable so it gets pronounced SayBell and they lose the Rose . So Sabes for short lol

 

[2have4kids]

Sabel-Rose is gorgeous! OP sorry to hijack your thread, let us know what you decide on, what does your DH think?

 

[RoseJeans]

Sabel-Rose is gorgeous! OP sorry to hijack your thread, let us know what you decide on, what does your DH think?

Thanks! It suits her, she was just going to be Sabel, Rose (after my mum) as a middle name as it is tradition in our family to have Nan/nana/grandma etc first name included.

But when I discovered that DD was the first girl in 90 years to be born into DH family, we decided to hyphenate and her middle name is DH's nana's name.

As for hyphenating a surname, I think it works if the names aren't a mouthful on their own!

 

[Zephram]

We aren't married so have different surnames and since we aren't fans of hyphenated surnames we've given ours kids OH's surname as a last name and my surname as a second middle name. It's another alternative you can use.