How did you pick your child's middle name?

We decided that girls would get my last name and boys would get DH’s. Then the middle names would come from the other side. We had a Dd so she got my last name and for the middle we used the same middle name Dh’s family has given every boy for generations.

Scunthorpe is a dreadful name for a child...

Dd1 is named after the town DH and I met which also happens to be my grandmothers middle name as well.

Dd2 is named after my late sister

Dd3 is named after me

My eldest 2 have 2 middle names. We are expecting DC3 and if it’s a girl Violet is a front runner. Gorgeous name.

Couldn’t you use violet as a first name and then one of the middle names from the other side of the family?

My DS’s have mine and DH’s Grandad’s names and DD has my Grandma’s name. My other DD has the nickname my parents used for me as a child. It’s nothing like my name at all but it is a cool name, I like it.

DC1 after my favourite singer
DC2 was one of the names I'd shortlisted for first name
DC3 after FIL who had died when I found out I was pregnant

DH's middle name and as a third name one of the three wise men because he was born on Xmas day and we thought Jesus was a bit ott and when dh ventured it, I vetoed Ebeneezer

Ds has my grandfather's name as his middle name and dd has dh's grandmother.

In my family middle names are the norm and mostly named after family or someone close to you. Dh's family don't seem to do them so he wasn't bothered. As it happens dd middle name I wanted for a first name so I was happy it also had significance to DH family so I could still use it.

DD's middle name is Emmeline. She was named after Emmeline Pankhurst as DH wanted her middle name to be taken from someone who we consider a notable historical character, a good person and role model

Our son's middle name is Joseph after my dad who died a month before he was born (he would have had the middle name Joseph even if my Dad hadn't died) but never been an issue that we didn't use any of his other Grandad's names. Just go with something you love.

We gave our child three middle names!
One is after her paternal great grandmother
Two is the placename she was conceived
Three is my maiden name

My eldest Is named for both my grandmothers. Her middle name is Isabel which was my maternal grandmothers middle name, her first name is my paternal grandmothers middle name, it is also my dads first name so family name. Obviously I also though they were nice names and they went well together. If she had been a boy the middle babe would have been the same as y husband and father in law....Robert

My second I just really liked the name Faith as we were going through a tough family time. I didn't want it as a first name as I knew a few as a teacher who were a bit chavvy! Her first name was from a book.

My third girl had the mn Winter. This is a family surname from my husbands family and is also one if his brother's middle names. She was due in December so it seemed fitting. If she'd been a boy it would have still been one if the middle names along with Robert.

I have my mother's name as my middle name, and my husband has his father's name as his.

We decided not to make it difficult on ourselves, so we opted to continue the tradition and thus DD has my name as her middle name.

2 middle names. One is my BILs first name and the other is my maiden name.
I still use it regularly and wanted dc to have a link to it.

DD1 has my late grandmother's name.

We would've given DD2 my DH's late grandmother's name but it was too similar to the first name we fell in love with and ultimately chose, so we just gave her a middle name we both liked.

DS has the male version of my middle name and DD has the female version of DH middle name.

I always think that if baby has just one surname from one side of the family (often the father's, could be the mother's though), they should have a middle name from the other side of the family. Of course if there are two middle names you can have both.

My DS has two surnames (mine and DH's) and we will do the same for DC2. Because of this we wanted just one middle name (actually DH didn't want one at all but I won that debate!) We gave DS a middle name from my family, after my DGF who died before he was born. So DC2 will have a middle name from DH's family, hopefully after a grandparent who he is very close to, but it depends whether baby is a boy or girl!

In answer to your dilemma, I think you should just choose the names that are most meaningful to the two of you and/or that you like the most - don't worry too much about how they sound or look together (unless the initials spell a swear word or something) because middle names are hardly ever used anyway.

Ds has 2 middle names, one is my dad's first name and the other is my exh's grandparents surname.

DD1 - late paternal and maternal great grandmothers

DD2 - a close friend of mine who passed away and her other late maternal great grandmother

So DD2 has not one but two from the same ‘side’. DH was given months to come up with something from his ‘side’ but in the end he conceded that these two names were both very important to me and that since he didn’t have anything that he cared about having more, that was the way it should be. Which was lovely.

And someone has made a very good point upthread - they have his surname anyway!!

Her middle name was originally going to be her first name, which is after a grandmother, but then somebody suggested my great grandmothers middle name which I loved more so we demoted the original to a middle name. Her fathers surname is also a middle name. We later found out the grandmother and great grandmothers middle names are from my great great grandmothers full name. So for instance
GG grandmother Joan Ruth
G grandmother Susan Joan
Grandmother Wilma Ruth
My baby Joan Ruth
We never even knew my gg grandmothers name until I was actually in labour!

My little one was due to have my grandmas name, but she was rather late, born in a different month to when she was due to be and I liked her birth stone as a middle name.

Used my late Dad's name. I wanted to honour my Dad who never got to meet his grandchild. Everyone on both sides of the family was very nice about it, but even if they hadn't been nice about it, I wouldn't have given a shit. Our child, our choice....

DD's first middle name is her late grandmother's name. If my mother was offended, she never mentioned it. Second middle name is my surname. (in my country traditionally you get both mother and father surnames but I didn't want to double-barrel).

From the name of the ward I was on, they were really kind to all of us and it felt right

I vetoed DH's choice of first name, which was almost a tradition in his family as too many already had it both sides of family, so let him choose within reason.