A double name is a name

Name

A name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name...

, typically an agnomen

Agnomen

An agnomen , in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the cognomen was initially. However, the cognomina eventually became family names, so agnomina were needed to distinguish between similarly named persons...

, given to a person either at birth or sometime during youth, that works in tandem with the family name. The tradition has more than likely been in practice for centuries, but is most popular today in the American Deep South

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

. As an autonym, the double name can be colloquial, legal, or a combination of both forms.

For example, consider a person with the given name 'Elizabeth Josephine Smith' (surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

: Smith). Although she was given that name at birth, her family may also decide to call her 'Beth Jo' or 'Betty Jo'; truncations of 'Elizabeth' and 'Josephine', respectively.

See also

• Dual naming
  Dual naming
  Dual naming is a policy for the naming of geographical landmarks, in which an official name is adopted that combines two previous names. Usually, the context is a conflict over which of the two previous names is most appropriate....
  
  
• Double-barrelled name
  Double-barrelled name
  In English speaking and some other Western countries, a double-barrelled name is a family name with two parts, which may or may not be joined with a hyphen and is also known as a hyphenated name. An example of a hyphenated double-barrelled surname is Bowes-Lyon; an example of an unhyphenated...
  
  
• List of double placenames
• Name blending