I think a good system would be if names followed mitochondrial and Y-chromosome lineages. So each child gets a hyphenated surname based on their father's patrin

I think a good system would be if names followed mitochondrial and Y-chromosome lineages. So each child gets a hyphenated surname based on their father's patrinomen and their mother's matrinomen, but boys only pass on their father's patrinomen to their offspring, and girls only pass on their mother's matrinomen. It would ensure everyone only requires a single hyphenation, while having a clear system for tracking descent. Eg, if my father's surname is Rice-Burroughs (where Rice is his patrinomen and Burroughs is his matrinomen) and my mother's surname is Baron-Cohen, then my surname would be Rice-Cohen, because my father has the "Rice" Y-chromosome (and if I'm a male, I have it too), and I have the "Cohen" mitochondria. If I am male and I marry someone with the surname of Bonham-Carter, our children would get the surname of Rice-Carter, since I can't pass on the Cohen mitochondria. If I were a female and married a male Bonham-Carter, our children would be Bonham-Cohen.