Double-barrelled name

rdf:langString Double-barrelled name

rdf:langString A double-barrelled name is a type of compound surname, typically featuring two words (occasionally more), often joined by a hyphen. Examples of some notable people with double-barrelled names include Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Sacha Baron Cohen. In the Western tradition of surnames, there are several types of double surname (or double-barrelled surname). If the two names are joined with a hyphen, it may also be called a hyphenated surname. The word "barrel" probably refers to the barrel of a shotgun, as in "double-barreled shotgun". In British tradition, a double surname is heritable, usually taken to preserve a family name that would have become extinct due to the absence of male descendants bearing the name, connected to the inheritance of a family estate. Examples include Harding-Rolls and Stopford Sackville. In Hispanic tradition, double surnames are the norm, and not an indication of social status. A person used to take the (first) surname of their father, followed by the (first) surname of their mother (i.e. their maternal grandfather's surname). In Spain, parents can choose the order of the last names of their children since the year 2000, with the provision that all children from the same couple need to have them in the same order. The double surname itself is not heritable. These names are combined without hyphen (but optionally combined using y, which means "and" in Spanish). In addition to this, there are heritable double surnames (apellidos compuestos) which are mostly but not always combined with a hyphen. Hyphenated last names usually correspond to both last names of one of the parents but both last names can be hyphenated, so some Hispanics may legally have two double-barrelled last names corresponding to both last names of both parents. Confusingly, many Spanish scholars use a pen name where they enter a hyphen between their last names to avoid being misrepresented in citations. In German tradition, double surnames can be taken upon marriage, written with or without hyphen, combining the husband's surname with the wife's. (More recently the sequence has become optional under some legislations.) These double surnames are "alliance names" (Allianznamen).