The rise of double-barrelled surnames

21st-century weddings and civil partnerships are noticeably different to traditional 20th-century ones, and a big part of this is what married couples wish to be called after they're wed.

In the past couple of years, there's been a continued increase in the number of people wishing to join their names. For example, in November, research by The London Mint Office to mark The Queen's platinum wedding anniversary shows that 11% of married couples between the ages of 18 and 30 joined their names. As the UK's leading Name Changing Service, NameSwitch has also seen an 18% year-on-year growth in couples wishing to adopt a double-barrelled surname, which accounts for 12% of the thousands of name changes we've assisted over the last 12 months. So, why are more of us opting to double-barrel their surnames?

NameSwitch spoke to five of our couples who shared their story:

Hannah's story...
Hannah Swain chose to change her name to Hannah Swain-Evans to save "completely wiping away and losing the name I have had since birth". Her husband chose not to change his name "I didn't ask him to and didn't mind at all." Hannah says that her friends "were very unbothered" by her decision which she feels is due to double-barrelling now being "something quite usual for our generation". Her mother, on the other hand, wasn't quite as convinced and raised questions about what surnames the couple's children will have. However, Hannah says she's happy to wait and see and has suggested that their kids could initially take the double barrel then pick their favourite surname when they're older.

To read more from couples who have double-barrelled their names, head over to NameSwitch's blog.