5/6 middle names!

life is too short to not name your child what YOU would like to - my best friend is flemish and has 6 or 7 middle names and its never been a problem, she never complained about it or anything, i always thought it was intriguing! think of it this way - will u have regrets if you dont? or regrets if you do? good luck

Oh, blimey, if I honoured evey cultural heritage of my children they would probably have at least 10 names.

I sttled for them having an Enlgish first name, an Irish surname, and no more than 2 middle names...which I just liked.

Can't you just gieve them a copy of the family tree?

I would think that 5 or 6 middle names would be a bit of a nuisance for the child growing up as others have said with forms etc. And when they get married some poor soul is going to have to recite them all without making a mistake.....

My kids have loads of names too.

Well DD and DS1 have the normal amount.

Then DS2 came along. He arrived ready named with 3 and when we offically adopted him we added two more so he has 5.
DS3 has 4
Soon to be DC5 is likely to have at least 4 too.

He may have more because I very much doubt I will have anymore kids so have to use up all the ones I havnt got round to yet.

...and far better than the 'I have no imagination' Rose/Grace/May/Mae

My children both have 3 middle names, so five names all in all. Our patterns is:

First name we picked because we liked
Second name after someone we admired from 'black history'
Third & fourth name after members of our family, so honour our mixed heritage
Surname.

they just about fit on their passports!

Not really ridiculous. They don't use all the names all the time. usually the first middle name is the only one that gets used on forms etc.

My friend's name is Hannah.

She has a middle name for each of the letters of her name. So:

Hannah Alice Naomi Natalie...you get the picture.

They don't all fit on her passpport

2 middle names maximum, any more and you are silly and a bit mean

both my dds have 2 middle names and i often muddle them up. my eldest is 4 and i still have to actively think about what order her names go in!

Don't do it, unless you want a permanant headache. Also, do you want more than one child - cos you might end up feeling you've cheated dc2 if you don't do the same for him/her, and then you'd have 14 names to remember (in order!) for only two kids! And heaven help you if you have a 3rd!

I think that is waaay too much. My DS has 2 middle names and a double barrelled surname. It is too long and most people agree! Second time around with DD, she just got the 1 middle name with the double barrelled surname.

For a start, you can cut down on the number of names by choosing a name of celtic origin (that'll sort the Scottish and Welsh out), Caribbean names (for your St Lucian and Jamaican heritages) are rarely all that different from either American or English names, in fact, though I myself am half west indian, I am struggling to think of any names that are exclusively 'caribbean', never mind specific to any one island.

Does your surname already indicate a particular culture? That would mean with a first name and surname of your list, one name of celtic origin and one from the caribbean/african heritage, your DC would have just 4 names in total - far easier...

though trying to spell/pronounce a full name that included swahili/Ghanaian, celtic, chinese and caribbean would be interesting...except for the caribean, not exactly phonetic are they......

My brother has four middle names and he loves it, and uses them all as much as he can.

Give him how ever many names you like. He'll use however many he wants and ignore any he doesn't want.

having no middle names is even better - less writing to do on official forms. I was kind to DS and just gave him a first name and surname!lol

I've never had a middle name and you can't miss what you've never had - I've not felt hard done by in life, and tbh when I see these kind of threads it makes me shudder - why complicate life.

Two middle names max. I think having any more dilutes the significance of why the names were chosen.

What do you think of the responses that have been given so far? Obviously you can do what you want, but it'll be your DC who has to trot it out all the time. Would you be upset if s/he dropped them later in life?

stick with 2. try and choose names perhaps that have different meanings in different cultures.

I have two middle names and it is enough of a hassle. Not particularly because of fitting it on forms, although that has occasionally been a problem (my first and second name are both three syllable, but because very frequently there is an initial box instead of asking you for your middle names, and I really hate seeing my name with just one initial - it really doesn't feel like my name at all.

So my children just have the one middle name each. One of the problems is that unless you use a deed poll all the names are your name, and you can't officially drop them. My poor sister had to have her truly awful second middle name read out when she got married for example, even though she totally dropped it many years ago.

I have five names in total - first name (3 syllables), three middle names (4 syllables, 3 syllables and 3 syllables) and a one syllable surname. So it's a long, tongue-twister of a name - maybe not as much so as your suggestion though.

I usually just use my forename and first middle name, alongside my surname obviously. It's too hard to fit the full version on forms and I wouldn't even want to imagine providing all the names over the phone to somebody. It's just far too much unnecessary hassle. An unusual name can make you self-conscious as a young adult, especially at school.

Having a long name has always been a talking point, something I have joked about, but I have never met one person that didn't think that it was a bit ridiculous, frankly.

I think two middle names is the max really otherwise it just gets stupid.

my DS has 2 middle names and a double-barrel surname. everyone always says how fab it is. sounds really posh

do what you want! but be aware some of them may be largely ignored.

Don't do it! Two is plenty.

Also, do you plan on having any more children? You do realise that you'll feel the need to have the same number of names for every child don't you? Can you think of six more names you like if you have a child of the same gender for DC two?

Yes, 5 middle names is too many. WAY too many. But then, as someone else has said upthread, no-one takes much notice of middle names, anyway.

I got carried away and gave my little boy 3 middle names. I was in a daze after a long, traumatic labour and no sleep for 2 nights. We found out he shared his birthday with someone famous, so we added that name to the two we'd already decided on. I feel really sorry for DS now, having so many names! But then he can just choose not to use them if he likes (I promise not to be offended).

and as someone has already pointed out, no one really pays attention to a middle name..

poor kid can you imagine what it would be like for him/her having to fill out forms??

neither of us (DH or myself) have middle names so our DC do not have middle names either. We personally feel it's unneccesary. They only need a first name and a surname.

Honour the various cultures in a different way IMHO, otherwise your child will struggle with so many different names to remember!