Middle names

[bigbee]

Can someone please explain a purpose of Middle names? (I'm not British so don't have one and don't know why people have them??)

And are you choosing one for your child?

Cheers

 

[CARNAT22]

I have no idea to be honest.

Both mine have middle names though and both are family names.

X

 

[mrsjohnson88]

I have no idea either. I dont have one but OH does and if we had a boy he really wanted to continue the family tradition of continuing the middle name edward. Not sure why they do this but i was happy to go along with it.

We had a girl in the end and she has a middle name that has no significance to anything other then i loved the name.

Sorry this doesn't really answer your question, i have never really seen the point in middle names but love that our daughter has one!! Xx

 

[Kaylip29]

I don't know the actual reason behind a middle name either! But I like the idea of honouring a family member by using their name as a middle name, so we are using my Granddads name as our sons middle name. He will be Oscar Terence x

 

[El1en]

i think originally Middle names were a show of standing and importance in society (a few hundred years ago). People gave their children longer names as a way of standing out and also used names of important people as a link to them.

I work for a Lord, he has 3 Middle names all after his ancestors, he has had two grandsons born in the last couple of years and they to have several middle names after family.

I guess it's a bit outdated now but i will still give my children middle names after family members. If I have a boy he will be called William john. My fil is called William David (but gets called David) and oh's middle name is William. My dad and granpa (who died in dec) are both called john.

If I have a girl her middle name will be rose after my granma Rosemary

 

[JJ Mum]

I like middle names as you get to pick two lovely names instead of one!

Also if child does not like her/his name they can just use middle name without changing by deedpol.
My dad is Simon Christopher W, but has always been Chris to me. He still uses Mr S.C.Walter just hated Simon

 

[snowbee]

Both my husband and I have a middle name. I quite like having one and we have decided we will choose a middle name for any children we have. No reason other than that. It is very popular in this area for boys to take their father or grandfathers name as a middle name but that is not something we will do as I don't like naming after family.

 

[Donna88]

We have used family names for middle names.

My son's middle name is Richard after my dad who died when I was younger.

My mum and my middle names are Mary and Marie, if I have a girl I think I will continue that and go with one of those, or if we pick a name that it will go with I would like to have Maria (just because I think it would be nice to go with another variation of the name)

My son was from a previous relationship, but my fiancé's middle name is James, which is the same as his dads middle name, I think it's also the same as his grandads.... again this is another tradition we will continue if we have a boy

 

[giuliaplus2]

I think the other ladies have explained it quite well.. many use them to honour important family members like their parents, grandparents or siblings... others just simply use them because they love the names or because they wouldn't want to put them as a first name...

My parents gave us children middle names to honour their "cultural background". My mom is half Italian half Brazilian and since those names are usually quite similar we all have an Italian first name and then my dad is English, so we all have English middle names..mine is Rachel, which is not even really English - it's Hebrew (as far as I know), but it's commonly used in English speaking countries so I guess they thought it still served its purpose

 

[bigbee]

Thanks ladies.

My partner is not really bothered whether the baby has a middle name or not. I'm not bothered either, was just interested to see what the reasoning behind them is.

I appreciate that some people name their babies in honour of family members, and that's something we'd consider, I suppose.

 

[Rooster30]

All children in my family have middle names that honour family members... however, for a slight turn up on the books, if this baby is boy the middle name will simply be a name both OH love but didn't want to use as a first name! It's our last time we'll be naming a baby and we just wanted to use our second favourite boy name too

 

[TashaWink]

I don't have a middle name but gave one to my LO and will give one to the rest of my children. I used a longer middle name that I love but wouldn't want to be a first name because it would be shortened.

Ollies middle name is Sebastian (which I absolutely love) if I could guarantee no one would call him Seb then it would have been a first name (I do not like Seb at all)

 

[littlemonkey]

I thought it came from when children were given the same names as their parents, boys in particular, and the middle name was used to differentiate between the two. Apparently it also used to be common before double barrelled last names for children to be given their mothers maiden name asked a middle name. Both my grandmothers had this and my dad's middle name is his my granny's maiden name.

We gave our eldest a name derived from OHs and then his middle name was my dad's name, which is also FILs middle name.

This time around we've just picked two names we like that have no family connection.

 

[Drc]

In both sides of my family we all have the Middle name of another family member, mine is Rebecca which was my great grans Middle name we will defo be having middle names using the same tradition.

 

[Rooster30]

I thought it came from when children were given the same names as their parents, boys in particular, and the middle name was used to differentiate between the two. Apparently it also used to be common before double barrelled last names for children to be given their mothers maiden name asked a middle name. Both my grandmothers had this and my dad's middle name is his my granny's maiden name.

We gave our eldest a name derived from OHs and then his middle name was my dad's name, which is also FILs middle name.

This time around we've just picked two names we like that have no family connection.

This makes sense. My dad shares my granddad's first name but is known by his middle name. It confuses a lot of people!

 

[Merida]

Both hubby and I have middle names after our grandparents. My middle name is after my mums mum who died before I was born so it's nice to have that connection even although we never met. We'll be picking a middle name after a family member(s) (probably my gran who died a few years ago) as it's a nice way to keep that person's memory alive.

 

[Gingerjv]

Probably nobody knows why people have middle names But in some point with middle name you give an option to your child what name to chose to be called with. and of course you can honor your dear people by giving their name as middle to your child. Personally I think it is wonderful to have middle name!

 

[bigbee]

Actually, I've heard of using middle name as a contingency... I had a friend who used her middle name as she hated her first name.

Still undecided.

 

[heybabya]

I'm undecided too - neither myself or my hubby have a middle name. I don't have one because my mum has two and she hates them so didn't want to do the same to me!

I was considering giving LO my maiden name as his middle name as it will continue my family name in a way (my maiden name is also a male first name so it would work haha)...but then again I don't really see much point so we'll probably just give him a first name only!