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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Why bother with a middle name?

33 replies

notlettingthefearshow · 04/09/2011 07:41

Can anyone explain the appeal of giving a child a middle name? I'm pregnant and pretty much decided the baby won't have a middle name, although still discussing with DH!

I can only think of one reason and that is to pass down a name which is meanginful to you in some way, e.g. family name.

I know quite a few people who have switched to using their middle name instead of their forename, which has ended up a bit confusing. I should explain that I am one of those people, although in my case my parents (and eventually everyone else) always called me by my middle name. It was consistently annoying until I actually changed my name by deed poll! Maybe my experience has made me a little paranoid.

Does it look odd if a child doesn't have a middle name? I've even seen some with 2 middle names lately, which to me smacks of indecision, but maybe that's just me.

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MissTriangle · 04/09/2011 10:19

I don't have a middle name- it never bothered me at all. In fact I quite liked not having one as it was a bit unusual. But I had a fairly unusual surname.
My DH has met a few people with exactly the same first name and surname as him, so his middle name was important.
His and now my surname is fairly common so will be giving our DD a middle name. Can't for the life of us decide what though Wink

bruffin · 04/09/2011 09:36

"It is like because the name isn't on constant display, their parents couldn't see the point."

I know the reason my mum didn't give us middle names. It's because she had two and hated being saddled with such long names. One of her names is now DD's middle name and she loves it.

Original poster
notlettingthefearshow · 04/09/2011 09:30

Yes, I think that's a good point about making the name more distinctive, especially since some of our favoured names are popular at the moment.

Having an alternative is also true - I know a couple of people who switched because they didn't like their first name. If you don't have a middle name I guess it would be very hard to pluck a name out of thin air - and at least it's still a name the parents have chosen.

I think I'm coming round to the idea!

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midoriway · 04/09/2011 09:21

I've always felt a tiny bit sorry for people who don't have a middle name, they seem to be lacking something. It is like because the name isn't on constant display, their parents couldn't see the point.

Your name is your name, the whole thing, not just the bits that people call you. Does that make sense? Probably not, but I guess the idea I am trying to get across is that names are about identity, not just labels for people to yell across the bar to get your attention.

DigOfTheStump · 04/09/2011 08:55

And it is not so much in decisive, cos there is no rule that you must picked just ONE name. If you like two, pick two.

I do know someone with 11 middles names (entire Rangers first team lol) and that is just a tad OTT.

bruffin · 04/09/2011 08:54

I don't have a middle name and always felt a little left out at school when everyone else had middles names. It's very small irritant in the scheme of things, but it would have been nice to have had one.

My DH is the younger brother and was given the family middle name and I am sure BIL slightly resents it.
Both DCs have family middle names.

BeeMyBaby · 04/09/2011 08:37

other benefits:

  • are to make a name more 'individual' if you are naming your child after another family member, for example my brother was named after his father (as was tradition) and it was double barrelled to differentiate the two.
  • my name is not a very traditional Christian name, so my middle name always made up for that
  • an alternate in case the child ends up not liking their name

DH has always been called his middle name by people who know him, and his first name by those who don't, I don't find it confusing and he has no problem with it, so long as when his name is written it is done so always using both names.

broomformychin · 04/09/2011 08:35

I think middle names are usually family names or names that mean something to the parents. My dd has 2 middle names, I chose one and so did dp. Mine was after my best friend and his was one of his favourite songs.