Couples who would do well not to hyphenate their names upon getting married

Some of these are hilarious, and, no, it wouldn't be a good idea for these couples to do the hyphenated name thing. If you have any more real life examples, post 'em in the comments for the amusement of all!

(Via Advice Goddess, who should know that less than two weeks ago I stayed at a hotel on Big Beaver Rd. in Troy, MI.)

Tags

More like this

This series of four posts by William M. Briggs is pretty interesting stuff. The kind of thing where I'm torn: is it the most brilliant and perceptive thing I've ever read about higher education or is it a series of slightly early April 1st posts? Dear Internet, I really need all you people out…
I'm giving up reading blogs for Lent. The proximate cause of this is Bora's latest blame-the-media post, which is just deja vu all over again, because I'm pretty sure this exact conversation has gone on ten times before (the fact that scientists find other scientists compelling speakers does not…
Jonathan Katz's "Don't Become a Scientist" has bubbled to the surface again, turning up at P.P. Cook's Tangent Space a few days ago. I can't recall what, if anything, I said about this that last time it came around, but I'll make a few comments here, in light of the recent discussions about jobs in…
Everyone remembers something different about him. I remember his beautiful long hair. He was a good ol' boy. A man's man. The goodest of the good ol' boys. His was the pickup you wanted to see if you were broke down beside the road. He could fix any damn thing. But he also had beautiful long…

Even "Big-Beaver" would be better than the "Beaver-Wetter" or "Looney-Warde" pairings. Just imagine the poor caterer trying valiantly not to laugh when booking the "Beaver Wetter wedding" over the phone.

Did the hotel have red velvet walls and fringe on the lamps?

Unfortunately, few people in Detroit seem to find the street name hiliarious. And actually, it's in a rather boringly posh area.

One couple would definitely have trouble with their nuptials announcement if they got it in the order 'Nye-Stitz'.

The problem with 'Beaver' is that net nannies filter it out. Much to the dismay of Beaver College, which changed its name to Arcadia University -- and that much to the chagrin of Beaver College graduates who have 'Beaver' on their resumes, job histories, college transcripts, and class rings.

In Pennsylvania, there is Beaver County and Beaver Falls. Penn State's Joe Paterno is the ruling king of Beaver Statdium. There is a Beaver State Park as well, and, yes, kids can see beavers there.

Ruling out 'beaver' is a mistake.

Similar considerations apply to corporate mergers. Supposedly, Chatanooga's two newspapers, the News and the Free Press merged into the Chatanooga News-Free Press. Then, of course, there's the security firm with the less-than-confidence-inspiring name of Custer Battles (named after its founders).

In a similar vein, two girls in the same class at the high school where my wife teaches were called Jenna Taylor and Jenna Toole. They followed each other in role call.

What could their parents have been thinking?

By Chris Devery (not verified) on 30 Sep 2007 #permalink

No kidding - my high school english teacher Ms. Skidd married someone whose last name was Marks.

As a lifelong Detroiter, I can definitely say that Big Beaver is quite an underwhelming road name.

Then again, the town of "Hell" is less than an hour away. And no, you can't get there by taking Big Beaver.

The most tragic one was the marriage of Miss Cindy Pleasant. She married a Mr. Crapps.

By hoary puccoon (not verified) on 30 Sep 2007 #permalink

I once worked with a Herr Katz and Fraulein Maus.

By Richard Simons (not verified) on 01 Oct 2007 #permalink

Not quite the same thing, but one of my early teachers and I shared same the surname. This used to drive the school librarian batty, because books were checked by surnames of the person checking out the book and relevant teacher. So the librarian couldn't tell if the teacher had checked out the book or I had.

And then the next year (at a different school), there was another student with whom I shared the some prenom and surname (but different middle initial). However, we weren't in the same class, and as far as I can now recall, the other "me" was a year ahead. Despite the obvious scope for confusion, I don't remember any significant problems.

The Victorian era called, it wants its middle-class posing back.

Tangentially related: When Nottingham City University and the University of Nottingham-Trent were to merge the obvious name choice was City University of Nottingham-Trent, but somebody caught on in time...

Not quite the same idea, but my mother had a friend named "Marsha" in college, whe ended up marrying a guy named "Jerry Mallo".

By Mark C. Chu-Carroll (not verified) on 01 Oct 2007 #permalink

Once had someone tell mew when they looked at my name (janet norman-bain) they read "Janet Normal-Brain". Given that I have MS, AS and a seizure disorder, I got a good kick out of that irony...

We chose not to hyphen our names--we're not British nobility (Close--but no cigars!) It would have had to be Wood-Murray--Murray-Wood sounds like a housing development!

Beavers? They're Canada's national animal! How the heck are we supposed to Boulderize THAT one??????

I have long denounced the practice of name hyphenation. The best practice is for a woman to retain her maiden name instead of creating some monstrosity composed of two often jarring when put together names. And it sounds damn pretentious anyways.

If our names were hyphenated, my other half and I could have the surname Knight-Walker. Not rude, but perhaps only suitable if we were goths.:)