Is Double Barrel Names Posh?

Even allowing for the fact that football is becoming a more middle-class profession, these numbers suggest that a double-barrelled name no longer denotes the upper tier of society. But double barrels are caught in their own double bind – no longer posh, yet still taken as such.

Why are double barrel names posh?

The reasons for double-barrelling were originally financial. If two wealthy families joined in marriage both names would be perpetuated as a condition of the marriage. Wealth matches were common in the middle ages, and a famous, wealthy family would want their name to run on till the final trump of recorded time.

Can you have a double barrel first name?

If you choose to give your child a double-barrelled first name, a hyphen is a good practice but not a requirement. The hyphen indicates which name goes in which place as opposed to a first and middle name. However, in the history of double-barrelled first names, hyphens are not used in everyday practice.