If someone's last name was Smith-Jones, which name do you consider to be the dominant one?

Jones cause its the correct last name, the first is just maiden and has no connection to the husband

umm neither is dominant, its an entirely new name.

usually it would be the females name with the males added on the end i think. thats how my friend did it.

Jones.

Only cause it is my last name.

Ok, this is where I get attacked by women, but in a completely non-sexual, unpleasant way...

I don't understand why people hyphenate their names in the first place. Personally (and no offense to anyone who chooses to use one), I think it's stupid. When two people get married, their wedding is 100% based on tradition. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Flowers, dinner buffet, the whole entire wedding ceremony and everything about the reception...it's all tradition. Women like to keep to tradition and spend their whole lives waiting for their wedding day.

Ironically, some of those same women (the ones who thrive for the tradition of marriage/weddings) have a problem with taking the man's last name...which is A TRADITION OF MARRIAGE!!!

You get everything you want. You get a sweet ass entrance as you walk down the isle, while the groom has to just stand there like a goon and wait for you. He doesn't get a cool entrance, like a wrestler. You get to wear an expensive wedding dress that you can keep for your whole life, while the groom has to wear a rented tux that has been worn by countless other grooms. God only knows how much weiner sweat he's sharing, just for you. The obscene expense of a wedding, every single dollar, is spent to make you happy; not the groom. The groom sucks it up and understands that the day of your wedding is for you. You have been waiting for it your whole life and he will do his best to give you what you want. The least you could do is just take his last name.

Ok, now...let me have it.

:ducks behind a table:

I had never had a real wedding. No wedding dress, no walk down the aisle, no big reception--it was my parents and grandmother in attendence. I just went through 42 weeks of pregnancy, 30hrs of excrutiating labor and hemorrhaged big time after giving birth. He got to have sex and be supportive. I think I've earned the right to give my daughter my name as well as her father's. If you don't like it, you can shove it.

I don't want a wedding, don't want a dress, don't really believe in marriage but love my fiance so since its important to him I'm gonna do it, but just want to keep my name cuz it sounds better and too long to hyphenate.

You: 9 months of pregnancy, 30 hours of labor...

Your husband: A lifetime full of listening to your bitching, moaning and complaining about said pregnancy and labor, as well as dealing with your mood swings, periods and eventual PMS...

Gee, I wonder who has it worse...

if this name came to me for network access - after i got done mocking it.. It'd be jones..

I have a contact at a customer who's got a hyphenated last name.... and everyone refers to her as hyphen-hyphen.. i'm not even sure people know what her real name is...

hmmmmmm 2nd thoughts...adoptions off................

oh yeah you better duck....

for once don't know where to start!!??
(although between you & me i did quite like the 'in a completely non-sexual, unpleasant way...' bit )


i've been married 3 times but none of the weddings were really planned they just sort of happened...

1st...when i was 21...a friend made my dress...then we went straight to a football match (it was a big deal apparently with a big cup thingy) i went in the big white meringue dress (it was the late 80's!!) very drunk.......

2nd...arranged in a mth...only later i found out why my BF of 3 yrs was suddenly in a big rush...won't go into details here but suffice to say he was planning on being a bit of a naughty boy...& thought i'd be more likely to stand by him if it all hit the fan...if we were married...well a mth later to the day in fact...it did hit the fan quite spectacularly...but after a yr or two of doing the whole stand by my man bit i'd had enough & divorced him anyway...

3rd...a mth after giving birth to my 2nd child...the only thing i remember is feeling knackered...oh & being very drunk at the reception......i was already having 2nd thoughts about this one on the very day.....never a good sign.....

despite my serial wife stint i never fantasised about weddings when i was little...i wanted to be a spy and/or bunnygirl!!!

as for the name change...i did....but then i'd revert back to my maiden name inbetween husbands...........LOL

have 2 children...one to no.1 & one to no.3...so i left their names as their dads. the way i look at it is...they live with me so it gives them a connection with their dads family...but anyway whats really in a name??

the thing that pisses me off & i never changed is my title...bloody MRS???! i don't think so...........it even sounds old when you say it...

men don't change from MR to something else so why the fuck should women have to tell the whole blummin world that we are married?? it smacks of possession to me...do not likey!!!!

MISS would make me sound about 12...so yes i'm one of THAT lot who use MS...

I got married once, last name Reid, had kids, got divorced, got remarried with new last name Quilty. I use both last names (though sometimes i hyphenate) purely because its really annoying signing kids school sheets with a different last name to them. Or taking them to the Dr or something 'Ohh, so are you their auntie or something?'
When we moved last i just told the new school to call them Quilty, even though their legal name is Reid (costs heaps for hubby to adopt, and need the ex's permission to change name ... nfi where he is) which helps.
But yeah, the whole double whammy name is just silly.
I believe they need an RFC for names. Both first and second.

I thought only the rich and famous did this?

Congrats on birthing, btw. I hope you got lotsa morphine in that 30 hours

Well, just ask my dh if I'm moody and bitchy during my periods/pms. I'm not. He will tell you he's lucky I'm not like that. Also, I don't intend to piss and moan about the whole pregnancy/labor. He was impressed at how well I handled it. I didn't freak out (even when I hemorrhaged a gallon of blood), didn't yell at him once or blame him for getting me knocked up in the first place. And don't think we women don't put up with a fair amount of shit from our husbands. It's a fair trade in most cases.

So shut up and stop assuming all kinds of things about me (you don't even know me) and making sexist generalizations about women.

And fyi, we decided to hyphenate our daughter's name.

What's the deal with people taking everything so seriously tonight? It's called a sense of humor and I highly suggest that a lot of people in this forum start getting one.

You're right...I don't know you. You don't know me either, so don't tell me to stop assuming things about you when you are doing the same exact thing to me. You are assuming I am insulting you, when it's probably obvious to most other people that I was clearly joking.