Help me in Understanding English names?

Question

I am of Latin American decent, therefore I have My name then my fathers then my mothers, ie: Akyer Santos< fathers last name, Igesia<< mothers last name
But my girlfriend (english -Irish) has Her name another 1st name then her fathers name. Cheri Anne McKenny

Explain please. Why do the people of english have 2 first name and no bloodline names for both sides of the family?
Is this why they say sometime that the bloodline for 'some' family name disapears after this one person dies and has no hiers?
Very confused.

Answer 1

Although English-language naming customs differ, according to region and country as well as ethnic group, most children receive two given names followed by the dad's last name. Sometimes, a child will be given his or her mother's maiden name as a middle name, however. For example, my mother's middle name is Dougherty*, her mother's maiden name. Similarly, one of my father's brothers received his maternal grandfather's first and last name as his first and middle given names.**

Until very, very recently, it was common for many American families to name the oldest son after the dad while, in some cases, the oldest daughter received her mother's first name as either a first or middle name. For instance, Mom's oldest brother was named David, Jr., after her father, and her oldest sister was named Mary after her mother. During the last two decades, parents have opted for more trendy names for their sons and daughters.

Knowing this background, I'm sure that if you and Cheri marry and have children, you can honor both your families' traditions.

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*Dougherty is an Irish surname.

**This was an old Southern custom.

Answer 2

well we have a first name and a middle name and a last name, ie: Cory Hunter Smith the middle name: Hunter is not important and is usually never used. (i dont know why we have it). The first name is simply what people call us casually and our last name is our father's last name. when two people get married, the wife takes on the husbands last name, and her previous last name is known as her maiden name. the last name of a family is lost if there are no sons or the sons dont marry, because the daughters would take on their husbands name. Heirs used to be the sons because they carry on the family name, so yes if there were no sons there would have been no heirs, however nowadays heirs can be anyone the person knew.

Answer 3

There are some children that have both the mother's and father's surname. Some women, after marriage, keep their maiden name and add on the husband's surname. Usually you will see these names with a hyphen, such as Christine Smith-Johnson. Smith is the woman's maiden surname and Johnson is the husband's surname. But mostly the wife takes the surname of the husband and the children take the surname of the father. FYI - the 'Mc' part of your girlfriend's surname is of Irish origin and means 'son of'.

Answer 4

Even when an English speaking person uses the double surname, they do it just the opposite of what is done in Hispanic countries.

They use the mother's name followed by the father's name, or you might say the wife's name followed by her husband's name.

I know in Hispanic countries the husband's name is his father's followed by his mother's.

The wife and children's name is the husband's followed by her maiden name

until the daughter gets married

she drops her mother's maiden name and pushes her father's to the right and inserts
her husband's in front.

A lot of English speaking peoople are confused about that in dealing with Spanish names. I understand you always address a person by his first surname not his second surname.

Answer 5

Not usually, Its Her Christian name first then a Middle sometimes named after her mother Christian name or another female in the family then her father last name.

Sometimes the Male will carry his mothers maiden name as his middle name which is after his christian name but that custom is old and disappearing. I hope this helps with English naming systems.

Now you will sometimes see females that marry and still carry there maiden names and then add there husbands last name
onto there maiden names example: Jones-Smith,

Answer 6

Traditionally, the child takes the father's last name. The other two names can be names of other people in the family, but the last name is really the only part of the name that is inherited.

Answer 7

When we married I insisted that I kept my maiden name because my husbands name was very common, and I didn't like it at all, so we now have a very posh sounding hyphenated name and it sounds so nice when some one calls out our name, like in the dentist or the bank. My dad died shortly before we married and I think at the time I just wanted to have his name.

Answer 8

If it's a girl, she has her first name and then her dads last name. In america people don't usually use their mom's last name. When the girl gets married she normally gets rid of her old last name and uses her husband's last name.