The bride grew up hyphenated, and so did the groom. Now they're getting married. What to do about the name?

You can use the original name of one of the partners, or hyphenate the original names according to preference.

According to Hungarian law, “one can have a maximum of two last names still applies, if one or both of the partners already have a hyphenated name, they have to choose a maximum of two names or keep their birth names.” Source

Nothing much on UK or US law in this case, I’m still trying to dig up a source for my response above.

A friend of mine’s parents combined their last names into a hybrid. They took a few letters from each to make something new and unique. In this case, the resulting surname was “Oshun” (pronounced like “ocean”), which I like quite a lot.

Nothing says they can’t pick a whole new one like above, or they can pick one of the hyphenated ones.

Oops, can’t get married.

you should create a whole new name. It can have nothing to do with the other four names. Fun at airports!

You could take the bit on one side of the hyphen from one and a bit on one side of the hyphen from the other and combine them with a hyphen in the middle…?

Okay, I emailed a marriage solicitor, and she said “if the hyphenated names occur from a previous divorce, either a birth name of one of the participants must be used, they must both keep their own birth names, or must hyphenate their birth names in conjunction. If both participants were born with their hyphenated names, then they may either hyphenate the entire series of names (although this is rare), adopt only one partner’s name, or select a single name from each partner’s name to be hyphenated. They may also, of course, keep their birth names.”

“If they wish to devise a name by other means, then they must file for a change of identity.”

Hope this helps. Only applies to the UK though.

@ RH – great answer! way to go above and beyond :)