To think middle names are pointless

DD has her paternal grandmother’s name as middle name as she died 4 weeks before she was born. It was fitting and we were able to tell her what she would be called as she unfortunately had a terminal diagnosis only 9 days before she died.

DS has my dad’s name.

My own middle name is entirely pointless, as is my husband’s.

I'd have a lot more difficulty tracing my family history as well. It is stuffed with people called Carter, Smith, Brown, Butler, Adams, Wright, Johnson etc. Without middle names I'd be totally stuffed trying to find out which Arthur, William, John, Mary, Maud, Sarah, Anne, Dinah, Henry or George was which. Especially among related families all living in villages within a 10 mile radius of one another.

I don't have a middle name and quite liked being different. So my son doesn't have one either

Apart from the John Smiths of this world it's absolutely pointless.
I did use both my names however. Until I was 10 I was called by my middle name by family then after that I insisted on being called by my first name.
I know a few other people who use their middle name and always have. I suppose it gives you an alternative name if you want one.

I haven’t got one, neither has DH, none for Dc.

None of us have missed having one, ever.

I think having one or more middle names is rather nice actually. Some people can go rather over the top though. 😂

I loved choosing middle names for my kids. I just like the flow of a full name with a middle name. 2 of mine have family names. 1 has a name I love but would never use as a first name as I'm a teacher and I had met too many naughty girls with the name!

My middle name is a connection to my grandparent family who are no longer with us so I love it.

My youngest DD has a family middle name from my husbands side which is quite unusual. DH is adopted so it was important to him to make that connection to his parents family. He did not get any options with his oldest daughter as his ex wife chose the names so I like that we've had so much choice with all 6 of our 3 DDs names!

So yeah I think it's personal, if you're not sentimental about names I guess it's way less important!

Friend of ours was grateful for his middle name when he was accused of a traffic offence. The person was driving same car and had same first and last name. Incredible coincidence.

This answer nails it to be fair.

When you know 5 William Smith's, it's very handy to know the middle name too! Or else they get a nickname...
I've worked with electric John, little Mary, black William (it was his hair, not skin colour. There was also a red William.)

I use my middle initial on all official documents. DD has my maiden name as her middle name.

Both our children have quite modern first names but have traditional middle names, just in case they fancied changing it to that. Ds did contemplate using his middle name for his career but changed his mind.

ds is named after his dad whereas dd is named after her gran.

To make it super weird my parents gave me the middle name of my twin sister who died in child birth 🤔

I love them for the history. I have given my daughter the same middle name as the last 6 generations of women in my family. The first time it was used was when there were only daughters so that ancestor used it as a way of keeping her maiden name alive. Telling my Granny that her great granddaughter would have the same name as her granny brought a tear to my eye.

My generation is the first in our family to use middle names for our children for around a century. I used to pretend I had one when I was a child as I felt left out at school not having one. I think every single one of my friends had Jane as a middle name.

I chose middle names for my children to honour family members and Welsh heritage but I have to say that I my own life has never really been blighted by not having one .

I don't have one and it's always been source of regret to me, as it would have given me a choice about which name to use.

As it's pretty much impossible to have a truly unique first name and surname, a middle name (or two) makes it slightly less likely that there will be five Terence Smiths born in 1958 in East Surrey with their medical notes mixed up, less likely for Olivia Andersons to have their Key Stage 2 data applied to the wrong Olivia's record, Mark Thompson applying for a credit card to be rejected because Mark Thompson that lives the other end of the road is an undischarged bankrupt and less likely for Elizabeth Simpson age 37 to be handed another Elizabeth Simpson aged 37's prescription in the pharmacy.

It depends, I like my middle name as it was my great grandmas and I'd not have really thought of her if I didn't have it. It sparked conversations with my nana and my mum growing up about her and is a way for her life to echo down the generations a little longer. My son has a middle name for his great grandfather as we inherited some money when he died and this enabled us to have ivf to have him. Another member of the family lost someone dear and their friend was so there for them that they gave their child their name as a middle name etc etc.

Not a necessity but a nice thing, for some.

My grandma used to say that people without middle names were common 😂😂 don’t quite no why!

@RandomUser456878 I have a wonderful middle name! I love that I have it, it’s ’Joy’ X

My children have their dad's surname but my daughter's middle name (which is also mine) has been passed down from mother to daughter for 6 generations and counting.

They're a good way to include the mother's family heritage if a child has their dad's surname.

It's particularly common in Scotland to use family surnames as middle names. I like it. It's a traditional thing. And it helps record family ties. There's been a few brickwalls where a maiden name as a middle name for a sibling has helped identify who parents are. It's a godsend for genealogy.

I don’t have a middle name, just a fairly common and short first and surname. I’ve had a fair few convos with people who don’t believe that and are convinced I’m just hiding an embarrassing one!

This! I spent a little time on my father's family tree. Every generation was ' Henry Smith' with no middle name. I was so pleased to fine the one generation that was William George Smith or similar. What a rebel!

Seriously, it's sometimes nice to pass on family names as a middle name. My ExDP had his mother's maiden name as a middle name, which was nice.

How have I never known this! My dad's side is Irish Catholic and I can't think of any that use their first name (...or Christian name...can you hear that penny drop?!).

I'm doing family history on ancestry and it's a revelation. People I've known all my life, and I never knew their proper name!

I gave DC middle names that gave really cool initials. So many lovely names and get to use so few- the more, the merrier.