Name blending

Name blending is the practice of combining two surnames to form a new surname. For example, combining the name 'Smith' and 'Jones' could produce the name 'Smones'.

It is most commonly performed upon marriage. According to Western tradition, the wife normally adopts the husband's surname upon marriage. Name blending is an alternative practice that attempts to assign equal cultural value to each partner's surname.

Motivation

Many reasons are given for name-blending:

1. Name blending avoids the patriarchal practice of having the wife take the husband's name. In doing so, it is considered by many to be an extension of the feminist movement.

2. Name blending avoids hyphenation and the complications associated with having a name that may be too long for use in some circumstances (for example, many computer databases limit last names to 16 characters).

3. Name blending confers the same surname upon both spouses. This allows the family to conform to the expectation that the family (and any children) will all share the same name, and avoid confusion that can arise when spouses retain differing surnames.

4. Name blending often creates a unique surname. In a world with over 1 billion internet users, having a unique last name can make it easier for people to find you using search engines. It also increases the chance that your name will be available as a username in e-mail systems and online communities.

5. Name blending provides an acceptable option for same-sex marriages.

Methodology

Some name blenders take special care to preserve parts of their surnames with genealogical relevance, while dropping parts of the name that are not unique to their name.

For example, in the name 'McAvoy', 'Mc' is a common Irish prefix simply meaning 'son of'. Therefore, it can be dropped from the blended name without losing the 'core' of the original surname.

By this logic, when combining the names 'McAvoy' and 'Abramson', the blended result 'Abramavoy' would be preferable to the name 'McSon'.

Famous People with Blended Surnames

Michael Flaherman

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