Name blending

Name blending, meshing, or melding is the practice of combining two existing names to form a new name.^[1] 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. In November 2012, it was reported that 800 couples in the United Kingdom had opted to blend their surnames thus far that year, primarily among "younger couples in their twenties or early thirties", with this being a leading reason for the issuance of Deed Polls to change names.^[1]

Since the early 2000s, it has also become common for celebrity couples to be given blended names in the media, usually made by combining elements of the given name of the people involved.^[2] This practice has been adopted by shippers within fandoms to describe relationships between fictional characters.^[3]