His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge with fans. |
Where else does it lead? To hyphenated children. This may work until the second generation when hyphenated young women and hyphenated young men marry up and have to decide their kids surname. You'll be getting cute little Judy Bradstone-Moore-Wang-Jenkinses. After three generations of this nonsense, chaos.
Names have to be practical. Why have a war over patronymics (borne by males who had no say in their name) or matronymics (borne by females who also stick with a name they had no say in choosing)? If the last name is connected to status and wealth, a simple accounting test can decide the little nipper's surname.
A modest proposal: Everyone gets a unique alphanumeric name, like a Postal Code. "C" for Canadian, "BC" for British Columbia" and "1490078" for my birth registration number. I'd be CBC1490078 in the phone book and '78 to my intimate friends. There'd be no more struggles between wealthy families and the fractious sexes.
Footnote: Longest on record: Captain Leone (d. 1917). Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache
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