A double-barrelled name or double-barrelled surname, also called a double surname or a hyphenated surname, is a type of compound surname, typically featuring two words (occasionally more), often joined by a hyphen. Notable people with double-barrelled names include Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

In the 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, Stopford-Sackville, and Spencer-Churchill.

In the Spanish tradition, double surnames are the norm and not an indication of social status. People used to take the (first) surname of their fathers, followed by the (first) surname of their mothers (i.e., their maternal grandfather's surname). In Spain (since 2000) and Chile (since 2022), parents can choose the order of the last names of their children, 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 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. Many Spanish scholars use a pen name, where they enter a hyphen between their last names to avoid being misrepresented in citations.

In the 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).

Etymology The term "double-barrelled surname" was in origin used for British double names indicative of (partially) aristocratic background.Thomas Innes of Learney, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands (1970), p. 186. Earlier usage prefers "double-barrelled name" in reference to the British double surnames; the more specific "double-barrelled surname" is a recharacterization after the tendency to use "double-barrelled name" for the fashion of hyphenated given names. The term "double-barrelled (sur)name" appears to have been coined in the Victorian era, originally with a sarcastic undertone implying pomposity.

However, it is now also used more generally of any double surname (an example being when using "double-barrelled" to refer to a Danish double surname.)Azoulai, The Question of Competence in the European Union (2014): The word "barrel" possibly refers to the barrel of a gun, as in "double-barreled shotgun" or "double-barreled rifle".

By country British tradition

Double-barrelled surnames Many British noble or gentry families have double-barrelled surnames, many of which are written without a hyphen. This may lead to confusion as to whether it is a surname or a given name combined with a single-word surname.

In Wales, many families have double-barrelled surnames. The preponderance of a few surnames (such as Jones, Williams, and Davies) led to the usage of double-barrelled names in Wales to avoid confusion of unrelated but similarly named people.

Triple-barrelled surnames A few British noble or gentry families have triple-barrelled surnames. These indicate prima facie the inheritance of multiple estates and thus the consolidation of great wealth. They are sometimes created when the legator has a double-barrelled name and the legatee has a single surname, or vice versa. Nowadays, such names are almost always abbreviated in everyday usage to a single or double-barrelled version. For example, actress Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe calls herself Isabella Calthorpe. There is at least one instance of an unhyphenated triple-barrelled surname: that of the Montagu Douglas Scott family, to which the Dukes of Buccleuch belong.

Examples

Unhyphenated double-barrel surnames

Politicians Catherine Fleming Bruce, David Lloyd George (who used the hyphen when appointed to the peerage), and Iain Duncan Smith Composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Andrew Lloyd Webber

Writers Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke Military historian B. H. Liddell Hart Soldier and translator C. K. Scott Moncrieff Evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith Astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Robert Hanbury Brown Actresses Kristin Scott Thomas and Helena Bonham Carter (the latter of whom has said the hyphen is optional, and indeed several of her relatives use it in their names)Los Angeles Times Magazine, November 1999 Footballer Emile Smith Rowe Musician Romy Madley Croft Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (whose cousins, psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and filmmaker Ash Baron-Cohen, use the hyphen in their names).

The surname of the Holmes à Court family is double-barrelled; the birth surname of the 2nd Baron Heytesbury was 'à Court', and he took the surname 'Holmes à Court' after marrying Elizabeth Holmes.

Hyphenated double-barrel surnames

Bowes-Lyon, a Scottish noble family Cavendish-Bentinck, a name associated with the Dukes of Portland and their descendants Chetwynd-Talbot, a name associated with the Earls of Shrewsbury and their descendants Crichton-Stuart, a name associated with the Marquesses of Bute and their descendants Douglas-Hamilton, the family surname of the Dukes of Hamilton and Earls of Selkirk Douglas-Home FitzAlan-Howard Gascoyne-Cecil, a name associated with the Marquesses of Salisbury and their descendants Gathorne-Hardy Gordon-Lennox, a name associated with the Dukes of Richmond and their descendants Hely-Hutchinson Innes-Ker, a name associated with the Dukes of Roxburghe and their descendants Monckton-Arundell Mountbatten-Windsor, the family surname available to and used by descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, when one is required. Petty-Fitzmaurice Pleydell-Bouverie Sackville-West In literature : Otho, Lotho and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, in J. R. R. Tolkien's stories The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Lobelia (née Bracegirdle) may be an unfavourable caricature of Vita Sackville-West, of the above real-life family. Scudamore-Stanhope Spencer-Churchill, a name associated with the Dukes of Marlborough and their descendants Windsor-Clive

Triple-barrelled surnames

Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, a name associated with the Barons of Hampshire and their descendants Baillie-Hamilton-Arden, the name used by George Baillie-Hamilton-Arden, 11th Earl of Haddington Cave-Browne-Cave, a name associated with the Barons of Stanford and their descendants Douglas-Scott-Montagu, a name associated with the Barons of Hampshire and their descendants Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, a name associated with the Earls of Minto and their descendants Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, the surname used by the Barons Willoughby de Eresby Lyon-Dalberg-Acton Pelham-Clinton-Hope Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, a name associated with the Dukes of Sutherland and their descendants Vane-Tempest-Stewart, a name associated with the Marquesses of Londonberry and their descendants Venables-Vernon-Harcourt Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, the name used by the descendants of the 16th Baron Saye and Sele

Quadruple-barrelled surnames

Cameron-Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, a name associated with the Barons of Clinton and their descendants Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, a name associated with the Barons of Thurlow and their descendants Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, the full name of Augustus Pitt Rivers Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, a name associated with the Earls of Wharncliffe and their descendants Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, the surname of the descendants of Admiral The Honourable Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax Stirling-Home-Drummond-Moray

Quintuple-barrelled surnames The surname of the extinct family of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos was the quintuple-barrelled Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville.

Traditions on Iberian Peninsula

In Spain, surnames are strictly regulated by the Civil Code and the Law of the Civil Registry. When a person is born, the law requires them to take the first surname of the father and then the first surname of the mother. Thus, when D. Julio Iglesias de la Cueva and Dª Isabel Preysler Arrastía had a son named Enrique, he legally was Enrique Iglesias Preysler. On the other hand, actual double-barrelled names exist (called ), such as Calvo-Sotelo or López-Portillo. For example, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo is the son of Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo and Mercedes Bustelo Vázquez. Such names may reflect the attempt to preserve a family name that would be lost without this practice. The creation of such names must be approved by request to the Ministry of the Interior. Sometimes a conjunction meaning "and" is inserted between the paternal and maternal surnames, as in the Castilian name Leonor de Borbón y Ortiz and the Catalan Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia.

Spain's hidalgo families often used double-barrelled names in conjunction with the nobiliary particle (of). Toponymic family such as the surnames García de las Heras, Pérez de Arce, or López de Haro combine a regular family name with the branch of the family. For example, the "López" branch hailing from the Rioja town of Haro, La Rioja. Surnames associated with Spanish nobility follow the same custom, such as Álvarez de Toledo, Ramírez de Arellano, or Fernández de Córdoba. In these cases, the first surname indicates the original name of the family, whereas the second surname denotes the nobiliary fief of that family. In this context, the conjunction "de" (of) reflects that the family used to be the feudal lords of that place. Thus, the Ramírez were the lords of the village of Arellano, in Navarra.

In Portugal, where most of the population have two to four surnames (), the practice of using a double combination of surnames is very common. The person can either use a paternal and a maternal surname combined (Aníbal Cavaco Silva) or use a double last name that has been passed down through one of the parents (António Lobo Antunes). The last surname (normally the paternal one) is usually considered the "most important", but people may choose to use another one, often favouring the more resonant or less common of their surnames in their daily or professional life (such as Manuel Alegre or José Manuel Barroso, who is known in Portugal by his double surname Durão Barroso). The use of more than two surnames in public life is less common, but not unusual (see Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen). Combined surnames of two gentry families from Portugal are also prevalent, such as Nogueira Ferrão.

One historic early aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont, is known to have not only often used an equal sign (=) between his two surnames in place of a hyphen but also seems to have preferred that practice, to display equal respect for his father's French ethnicity and the Brazilian nationality of his mother.

Germanic tradition