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Baby names

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How many middle names are too many?

79 replies

Lizadork · 13/05/2020 20:11

Just that really, how many middle names are too many?
Have you come a cross anyone with a lot?

My family/friends tend to have no middle name, one middle or two.

What about when you add your partner's name as a middle name - that adds things up too.
Example:
Sarah Louise Elizabeth Williamson (dad's-fake-surname) James (mum's-fake-surname).
Receiving post or filling in forms as Miss S L E W James.

Just feels like a lot.

As a last born child on the way, it is hard not to want to throw every name at her.

OP posts:
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Maybelatte · 13/05/2020 21:36

My DS’s have two middle names but also two surnames so their names are quite long. It doesn’t really matter though, it’s not as if anyone ever uses their middle name.

BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup · 13/05/2020 21:33

@FourPlasticRings so she can choose the names she wants to use without having to do a deed poll.

No in reality it's because her half-siblings have 2 middle names and I can't be bothered to deal with her moaning about having a different number when older. In my case all my (many) siblings have one middle name but I ended up with two. I decided to drop one as a teen because I wanted to be like them. A friend of mine ensured her kids names fitted in with their older half-siblings for the same reasons.

Doilooklikeatourist · 13/05/2020 21:01

Name Middle Surname
No more are needed
DH and his sister don’t even have middle names ( 60s babies )

HeronLanyon · 13/05/2020 21:00

eden the image of you in the register office made me laugh.
but it could become a new ‘thing’ a yooonique’ naming thing
Sam Pointless Filler Smith
Lucy Random Meaningless Smith.

Wheresthebiffer2 · 13/05/2020 20:59

We knew we were only having one child, hence lots of names for that one, as it was our only chance at naming somebody. lol.

Edenember · 13/05/2020 20:54

2 is definitely the middle name limit for me personally, I love girls names and there are LOADS I’d love to use but I just feel its burdensome overkill and doesn’t sound right to have more than 2 middle names. My daughter has 3 names then surname and any future girls will have as well just to shoehorn in some that I adore. By contrast my sons don’t have any middle names as we found ourselves about to give them ‘meh’ ones that neither of us loved, it just felt like filler for the sake of it when we realised that the position of compromise meant we just ended up with middle names neither of us were crazy about, the decision was literally made in the registry office not to use them as they just felt like pointless filler.

98Charlotte · 13/05/2020 20:52

Its all personal preference and meanings behind the names.
I have 2 middle names.
My child has a hyphenated first name with 2 middle names, which are named after grandparents.
Shes already individual with her main name being a combination of both of our names in one then hyphenated with a name that went with it.
Her initials are C-R.F.J.K

HeronLanyon · 13/05/2020 20:45

Grin crusty

FourPlasticRings · 13/05/2020 20:45

@BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup you gave your LO 2 because you only use one of yours?

HeronLanyon · 13/05/2020 20:44

I e heard from a teacher friend (university professor of around 30 years now) that she’s noticed a really odd but strong correlation beyween lots of middle names and being a pita. Not causative obviously but correlative. Noticeably apparently.
Personally My feeling is that any more than 2 middle names is a bit much (not sure quite what I mean nor why)

BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup · 13/05/2020 20:43

I have 2 middle names. I only use one. The other one has been removed from all official documentation apart from my birth certificate.

I gave my LO 2 for the same reason.

LotusClover · 13/05/2020 20:40

I can never understand why people give their children more than 1.

AdoptedBumpkin · 13/05/2020 20:37

I've always felt one middle name is enough if you're not super posh.

FourPlasticRings · 13/05/2020 20:36

Three I think is too many. Two is OK, but I like one, personally. I use DD's a lot day to day, if I'm serious about something and she's being silly. Or if I'm making up a song with her name in it. Any more than one and it'd be too unwieldy.

crustycrab · 13/05/2020 20:36

Well two is too many. Otherwise it wouldn't be a middle name.

Pipandmum · 13/05/2020 20:35

One or two is enough. Both my kids have two: my daughter my mother's and grandmother's, my son has both his grandfathers' names. I have two. My sister has two, another has one.

HerRoyalPain · 13/05/2020 20:35

I knew a girl who had 11 middle names. God knows why.

My eldest has 2 middle names, although technically one is a surname (my mums maiden name)
My other two just have one middle name each.

LexiM · 13/05/2020 20:34

Personally I wouldn’t have more than two. Although it depends on how long the names are as they could be all very long or a mixture which wouldn’t be so bad. That being said I don’t think it matters that much as nobody uses their full name that often, but would need to fit on some forms!

Ughmaybenot · 13/05/2020 20:33

Three or more is daft imo

Malysh · 13/05/2020 20:31

I should add that the gazillion middle names my parents have never bothered them that much. They're not a hindrance or an annoyance (except to me when I have to remember them all and put them on official forms, but that doesn't happen everyday either !)

There just doesn't seem to be much of a point to them. Which is why my kids only have two names.

Malysh · 13/05/2020 20:28

My parents each have 4 given names and one last name. I guess it was traditional at the time (both born a few years after the war).

But for my brothers and I they gave us only 2 names which seems ideal to me.

Having a middle name makes it less likely to have someone else with the same name. Which does happen - a colleague of mine has the same name as a nutcase who killed an old lady with a knife ! He nearly got arrested in an airport once Grin

It's also a great opportunity to use a name that you wouldn't dare use as a first name, or just a name that you like but can't or don't want to use for whatever reason.

But more than one middle name seems overkill, and also it dilutes the significance of the names. When you have 10 middle names they can't all have a deep meaning/connection to you, can they ?

So for me more than one middle name is unnecessary, unless you have two people you absolutely want to honour and only one child I guess...

Lozza70 · 13/05/2020 20:28

To many middle names will be pointless and won’t fit on any official forms, passports etc., bitter experience from my own name. Two middle names and double surname! My sons just have one short middle name and it works much better.

feellikeanalien · 13/05/2020 20:22

My DP has three middle names and he hates 2 out of the three. He doesn't know where they came from and is convinced that they are the names of his Dad's mates in the pub!!

Marmite27 · 13/05/2020 20:22

They only put two middle names on a driving licence. Any more than that is pointless IMO.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 13/05/2020 20:21

3 is too many

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