Why do so many American Parents call their kids by double barrel names?

Question

Names like Billy Bob, Mary Sue, Mary Beth, John Boy, Mary Ellen, John Ross etc crack me up.

Answer 1

It is a Southern thing. I have 14 cousins with double names! Tradition. Most of my cousins carry "Lee" as the second name, after my Grandfather.Some girls are named after their fathers-
Billie Sue, Sally John,Mary William.We just tend to USE both names! We don't blink an eye! Glad it amuses you! Ya'll come
back to see us!

Answer 2

We need some way to tell the difference between the Billy x's and the Mary x's (like the Billy Bob, Billy Joe, Billy John or the Mary Jane, Mary sue, Mary Helen. If somebody says, "Hey, did you hear Billy and Mary got hitched?" This leaves us wondering WHICH Billy, WHICH Mary? Cause we went to school with all of them, don't ya know? Y'all come back when you can stay a little longer, hear, now?:-)

Answer 3

To liven things up; how boring would just plain ole Mary be? Add Sue Beth Ellen , etc and you have classification and a more distinguishable name from every other Mary.

For John Boy (I guess you've been watching too many Waltons Lately from the names you listed) he's actually John Jr.; but I guess calling him John Boy is better than Boy John or else it would sound too much like Boy George

Answer 4

With over 250 million people in the USA they need to have a different type of name just to stand out from the crowd - I mean, you have noticed the double barrel names, not the single John and Marys', so perhaps they have a point?

Answer 5

Thank you!

Then they turn around and make fun of what black people call thier kids( Ok, I can see the humor in a few of those names)

The old saying goes:

When you point a finger, the other four are pointing back at you.

Answer 6

Fifty years ago people had five, six or more children.
We just never got out of the habit of picking out names.
So we take our one son and name him Gary David Zebulon or our one Daughter and name her Rebekah Aaron... luckly our kids went by Zeb and Becky.
We may be southern.... but our last name is Smith and that is why we did it.

Answer 7

Like the "John Michael 'Smith-Cole' " last name? Maybe because they have divorced but want the children to keep both last names? Not all Americans do this.

Answer 8

To really try and stop those cousins marrying? Their kids would end up Mary-Mary?

Answer 9

I tought it was mostly a Southern thing.

Answer 10

a lot of Europeans and Hispanics do this too