What is the purpose of double barrel surnames?

Question

For example
Fisher-White
Smith-Peters etc

Answer 1

The above answers are all correct.

Carrying that idea a bit further - I wonder what happens when Mary Fotherington-Smythe marries Nigel Fortesque-Griggs and she wants to keep her own name. Will she become Mary Fotherington-Smythe-Fortesque-Griggs? And, if so, what if their daughter wants to keep her surname when she marries Rupert Bingham-Fitzpatrick? I mean, where does it all end?

Answer 2

Following on with emma's answer ... sometimes a married couple will decide to combine their surnames and both of them will use the hyphenated name. One well-known example is authors Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens.

Answer 3

Originally, in medieval England, it was used to identify illegitimate children who were acknowledged by their (usually) noble fathers. In cases where there was no legitimate heir, the father could designate one of his illegitimate children as his heir, and so the hyphenated name became the family name, and was handed down thereafter. Nowadays, as other posters have said, couples combine their names to acknowledge both sides of the family.

Answer 4

Sometimes a married woman who wants to keep her maiden name and also carry the husband's name.

Answer 5

The arrogance of the aristocracy, real or supposed..!!

Answer 6

We wanted our kids to have both our names, that's all.