On changing one's name

[ThistleDown]

I'll just note that I did exactly that, without any hyphen, in order to acknowledge my mother and her side of the family along with my father and his side. And that was very, very easy to do ... although some forms are set up to recognize only one "middle" name or initial at most, in which case I end up going with first name and (my father's) surname - that is the one downside, but perhaps a notable one in your situation.

It's not actually a Scottish tradition to hyphenate surnames. I stand to be corrected (please) but I think that hyphenating surnames creates a new name. So Mr Sporran and Miss Purse marry and name themselves Mr and Mrs Sporran-Purse, thereby creating an entirely new and different surname, Sporran-Purse. In Scotland; I've no knowledge of the laws in the US.

I have a dear friend, however, whose uncle was the last in the male line of a landed family. My friend chose to dispense with his father's surname and replace it with his mother's (i.e., his uncle's). This was a relatively simple process in the US as I understand it. His uncle then named him as his successor and my friend has since been recognised by Lord Lyon with the territorial designation.