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ds1 has 2 family names from DH's side and one from mine. DS2 has an utterly random 1st name, a middle name after 3 good friends of mine (and 2 crushes ) and my Nana's maiden name to redress the balance.
My ds has a family name but was done inadvertantly. Ds went through a few middle name one of which was 1 or my db middle names so we changed it. It went to a choice of two and the one we decided on is also a middle name of one of my db which i didnt think of untill he'd had it for a few days. Didnt change it as it suited ds and wouldnt upset anyone
We've used a mixture. Our children have 3 names, then their surname:
DS1 - first name, family name from my side, family name from DH's side, surname
DS2 - first name, family name from DH's side, Christian name from my side, surname
DD - first name, "normal" middle name, family name from DH's side, surname
I think it's a really nice thing to do. You can still chose any name you like as a first name but it's a way of remembering people who (or stories of whom) have had an effect on you.
I think that it is quite nice to have a family name (if you have reasonable family names)but I thought it was also a way of using names that you like but might be difficult for every day. I haven't got a DD but have always liked the name Verity which I might be a bit worried about landing someone with but would be good as a second name-equally names like Miranda and Rosalind.
I know a lot of people (generally posh blokes from university) who have family middle names that sound more like surnames. Is this what you mean or do you mean naming the baby after another member of the family? I just picked a name I liked and went with her first name. I don't think you should feel constrained but a nice touch if there's someone you want to honour in that way I guess
Thank you stripeymama! Sorry to stalk you! I will go for 2-4 then I think... she is 100cm, and long in the body, not the leg. I can always send them back or pass them to a make if they're no good...so cheap! And ethical too!
I went on dd's height (which they specify in the size guide) as she is quite tall for her age. We had the 2-4 ones when she was just three and the 4-6 ones by the time she was 4.
I've never heard of the idea of middle names being 'family names' before.
DD's middle name was our first choice for a first name, but we felt it was a bit 'much'. Not to mention impossible to spell. So it got used as a middle name.
I'm like the OP, I was quite surprised when I found that people just gave middle names that they liked. In my family daughters usually have the middle name Scott. My db has a middle name that comes from my Dad's side of the family. My ds has his birth mother's surname as a middle name, as well as my Dad's name. In fact most people I knew when I was growing up had a significant middle name, in the sense that it's in honour of someone or something, or there is some sort of story to it, whereas their first name was chosen because their parents liked it.
We did a bit of a cheat and gave DS two middle names - one is a name that we just like and the other is my surname, since I didn't change my name when we got married.
Luckily, in spite of having 4 names, it doesn't sound at all posh because of the names used...
two boys and both have family names. DS1 has great grandma's maiden name as his first and his dad's middle name, DS2 has both grandads names. To us it was important that our DC carry family names onwards. That's special.
Yes, dd1 has my nan's name (sort of modernised) as her middle name. Dd2 has my Grandmas's name (again, an adaptation of) as her second name and Dh's Grandmother's name as a third name. I like the fact the names will continue in the family and it was also a way of showing the Nans / Grandma's that they were important in our Dc's lives. (However, Gertrude and Dorothy were not options, hence we modernised them!!)
DS has DHs middle name as a middle name which is also a family name on DHs side. Don't completely love this name but it is pretty inoffensive and goes with his 1st name. DD has a middle name that we just liked. If DC3 is a girl I may use my mums name as a middle name, but only because I like it and it goes well with the name we have chosen.
No one asked/expected us to use these names though. If we do have a girl though I am looking forward to telling my mum that she has her name as her middle one (I don't mention names to anyone but DH until DCs are born so she doesn't know). I think that my mum would be secretly pleased even though she woudn't expect us to do it.
It depends on the family names. I would have loved to have used my father's names but they are both horrible and I wouldn't inflict them on a DC! However I see on this names thread that they are coming back into fashion! I wasn't going to use them just because my grandparent's liked them! I didn't have a DD but unfortunately my mother's name is horrible, even she has never liked it.
I always think of a middle name as a family name. My middle name is Anne after my aunt who was my godmother and she was named after her grandmother. My dd1's middle name is her grandmothers' name (they are both marys) ds1's middle name is my fathers and ds2's middle name is dp's dads (he died when my dp was only 6). I am expecting number 4 who will have either my moms middle name or dp's stepdads name as middle name. I think its important to have family meaning to middle names .. although we have been lucky that we have been able to stick to grandparents .. i wouldnt want to have to decide between siblings!
Yep, ds's middle name is Feliks after my lovely great grandfather, and if we have a dd, she will have middle name Annie after dh's mum who died a few years ago.
DS's third name is my dad's name - Stuart- but he now uses it as his second - his original second name was one that we liked at the time. We changed our minds about it soon after but didn't get round to changing it within the year - DS doesn't like it either and he never uses it.
DD's middle name is Alexandra; she has a cousin called Alexander, but she's not really called after him, we just liked the name. In fact, it might have been her first name if we hadn't thought it might be confusing for the grandparents.
my mil died and she was the last person in her family with her maiden name she kept it even tho she married .....we had an unexpected 3rd baby after she died and he has her surname as well it was a way of keeping the name alive
My youngest son is the only one who has a family name as his middle name but DS1 picked it, and it wasn't until we brought the baby home that I realised the name was his Grandad's middle name. I did think about changing it but DS1 had picked it and really wanted it.
Ah I see from this thread that it is pretty common to do the family thing- feel less dopey now, might even be tempted to sod the family and give ds a completely new middle name, actually that would be very much easier than having to choose a family member
Both of mine have two family names as given names( but I like all the names). they also have my surname as a given name (not hyphenated) then DH's surname
All three of mine have family names as middle names, DD has a first name similar to myXDP's brother (her uncle, just the feminine version spelled differently) and her middle name is her grandmas(Frances) and DS1's first name is a diminuitive of my Dads name with his middle names being his paternal grandads(Michael Alan).
but DS2's first name was just one I liked and his middle name is same as DP's brother(Oliver).
If we have another boy the first name will be just one we like, middle name would be DP's grandads(William), a girl would be a first name we liked, middle name DP's mum(Caroline), but that's only because we like those names, fi we didn't we'd choose just any name we liked.
Ds has my uncle's name as middle name Dd has my sister's (Mine is my mum's sisters)
My brothers & sisters all have family middle names (of various levels of hideousness - think Edel (now cool I suspect, wasn't then!) , Dennis, Bernard...
I always thought that was what middle names were all about- didn't even occur to me that actually sometimes people just like to give another name they like
Our dds have [as a result of us thinking this was the done thing] all got family names as middle names [dd3 has an added name that I just loved and was determined to add- so she has 2 middle names] Now we are expecting a boy and have the lovely task of choosing a family name for him as a middle lol. The male members of our family are all poised ready to be the chosen one. So do you do the family thing or have you just gone with names you particularly fancied?
) and my Nana's maiden name to redress the balance. 
and a family name as two middle names
- Hope
