What makes you pick a certain middle name?

[StylishDuck]

I'm just being curious nosy about people's reasons for picking certain middle names for their DC.

DD has a middle name that has a family significance (DH's grandmother), my middle name is for my aunt who is also my godmother. All the babies in my family have been given middle names that have a family connection. I've noticed however, particularly on here, that some people just pick middle names that they like or that "match" the first name.

If you did this, what was your reason for giving a middle name in the first place? DH doesn't have one and doesn't feel like he particularly missed out I like middle names that have a family connection but don't think I'd bother with one if it wasn't for that.

No judgement, just curiosity (and I've had wine so forgive my rambling!)

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

DS's middle name is after a hero in a sci-fi film who saved the world.

Thought having the name of a strong character could only be a positive thing.

[OrionsAccessory]

We chose middle names we just liked. I think we wanted to do middle names because dh and I both have middle names (his is a family name, mine is a 'just because' name) and all our siblings have middle names. We never really considered not giving our dcs middle names tbh.

I'm pg with dc3 now and we're letting dc1&2 choose the middle name!

[StellaAlpina]

I don't know, I think I'd like one that had a good meaning...either through family connection or through the name itself/famous people with that name etc.

I had a really good, original one picked out for a girl but it turns out the bump is a boy so I'm s bit stumped.

[MrsBungle]

Dd's middle name is my mum's name. My middle name is my granny's name and it's been like that for generations.

Ds's middle name is my maiden name which is quite traditional in my area of Scotland.

[StylishDuck]

Joffrey I love the sentiment behind that (also trying to guess what the name is!)

Orions I also think the idea of DCs choosing a siblings middle name is really sweet. I'm not sure if be brave enough for that though. I'd probably end up with Peppa or Mr Tumble if DD chose!

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

It's Neo.

[Indantherene]

4 of mine have middle names we liked. One has my grandfather 's middle name as his middle name.

I don't have a middle name. I hate my first name and it would have been helpful to have had an alternative.

[UmbongoUnchained]

My DD has 2 middle names, an Irish one as we come from Irish background and we all have Irish names and another one which I just really loved.

Joffrey I absolutely love the name Neo!

[StylishDuck]

MrsBungle I'm also from Scotland. I would have loved have to used my mother's maiden name as a first name if DD was a boy but it sounded ridiculous with our surname. It would have been even more ridiculous if we'd used my maiden name as a middle name (think 3 names ending in -son all together )

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

Both my children have slightly unusual first names, so they have more standard middle names. DS has a family name for his middle name, DD's I just liked.

[StylishDuck]

Neo is awesome

[HannahHobbins]

Both my dds have their godmothers names as their middle names.

[GlitteryFluff]

Mine is the same middle name as DM.
Ds is the same middle name as DH.

[mamalovebird]

DS has my Dad's name as his middle name. He'll never know him as my dad is dead but he was always going to have his name.

DD has a name from the same country as my paternal grandmother. I have my grandmothers name as my middle name but thought it might be a bit weird to give dd the same middle name as me so chose a name similar and recognisable as being from that country.

[SellFridges]

I have a theory that middle names should be given for one of two reasons:

1. to honour a relative or friend
   
2. because you didn't quite dare to give the name as a first name

[StylishDuck]

Mama I'm so sorry about your Dad. I think it's lovely to honour family members with DC's middle names. Although DH's grandmother was still alive when DD was born she sadly passed away a week later without ever having met her. She knew we'd given DD her name as a middle name though and was delighted.

[steppemum]

ds has 2 names, his first name is his paternal grandfather and his middle name is his maternal grandfather (well, his middle name, my dads first name is crap!)
dhs family have had generations and generations named like that and my FIL 's name happens to be one of my favourite names, so we were happy to continue the tradition. It helps that dh is dutch and so ds has the anglicized form, so they are pronounced differently.

dd1 has a middle name which is my middle name and my mums and my grannys first name. I always loved having same middle name as my mum and liked the idea of a family link. She has a dutch first name with an english abbreviation, so a dutch and english link too.

dd2 has an english first name, and then we felt she had nothing dutch, and we wanted to use dhs mums name as she died years ago. So she has her grandmothers name as her middle name. Then I felt that she didn't have a name from my family but the other two dcs did, so she had another middle name which was the middle name of both my grannies.

[BabyTheCaveLion]

DS1 has my dads name as a middle name - he passed away when I was a child so wanted to include a little piece of him in our family.

I let DH choose DS2's middle name - Jax from Sons of Anarchy

[SoWhite]

My kids middle names are the wacky ones that I love, but didn't think it fair to saddle them with.

[DeepBlueLake]

DS1 first middle name is the name of the town in my home country where I spent my holidays growing up as my Grandparents lived there, I wanted to give him that connection. His second middle name is the masculine version of my mum's middle name. He also has DH late brother's middle name as his first name.

DS2 middle name is DH Granddad's name and DH mum's maiden name. His first name is the middle name of my late Granddad.

We've basically swapped the names round

[babyblabber]

My 3 have middle names to honour the grandparents. DD1 was born when my mother in law was dying of cancer, she was about 3 months old when she died. I don't particularly love the name but I love that although she won't remember her granny, she will always be connected to her.

Other two have my parents' names. Thankfully they are still here (& have a great relationship with the kids) but I'm now acutely conscious that that won't always be case.

I don't see the point in picking a name for no reason or family member/place/someone you admire. My own middle name is just a name my parents liked & sounded good with my first name. It means nothing to me, it's a nice name but I wouldn't miss having a middle name if I didn't have it!

[IoraRua]

I am going to go down the 'name of a family member/friend' route because I prefer to have some connection to them in the middle names. Couldn't give much of a feck about how they sound together, if it sounds good it's a bonus but not essential.

My best friend went with names she loved for the middle names - bonkers ones that she wouldn't saddle the child with as a first name.

[alltouchedout]

As none of our sons have 'family' first names, we wanted family middle names (ds1 has my brother's name [which is also my dad's middle name], ds2 has one of DH's uncle's names, ds3 has a middle name that both my great uncle and DH's cousin are called).

[Crazybaglady]

My DD's is a lucky number, it also has special significance to our lives but will not divulge

[DurhamDurham]

Both my girls have middle names which are family names, one of the names I don't even particularly like but I love the person so I wanted my daughter to have it.