Why do we have middle names?

[Houseplantmad]

just wondering why we do - when they don’t usually ever get used. Why bother with them when some people get themselves so stressed choosing just a first name?

I saw it as a option in case she didn't like her main name

It was much more easily "masculinised" than her first name

https://education.myheritage.com/article/explaining-middle-names/

I don't have a middle name. My DC do though. Dd has two!

DH hasn't, nor has DS

My mum used her maiden name (no male heirs on her dad’s side of the family at all) to carry on using this name in the family with me, so it’s my middle name. It’s French and unusual…

My DNephew has 2 middle names, his grandad’s first name and a name of an animal (wolf 🐺).

Friend of the family apparently her first name was very common at school (age 6) so she wanted to use her middle name and has gone by it ever since.

I gave mine a middle name so I could either use a name that was a bit unusual that I didn't want to inflict on them as a first name, or just because it sounds nicer.

None of my children have middle names.

I haven't got one..my brother has my Fathers middle name and grandfathers name (weirdly my Dad was known all his life by his middle name)

I don't have a middle name and always felt a bit left out. My sister had two for some reason. Both DC have them - first dc was the name DP wanted but I didn't like so we added as middle name as a compromise. Second was to remember a relative who died young.

DH doesn't have one. I never use mine except on official documents. We gave our sons their grandfathers' names as middle names. I never understand why people worry so much about middle names.

So our children know the level of annoyed we are with them. If I have to use any of their middle names they know it is serious business. Same as with my parents.

And if we were referred to as first name, middle name AND confirmation name we knew to hide 😂

DD has a middle name because 1) gives her an alternative name when older if she wants & 2) I had 2 names that I liked. DS middle name was for his grandfather who died shortly before he was born, so for sentimental reasons really. Didn't want to use it as a first name, as I worried he might feel in his shadow or something (pregnancy hormones eh) hence using it as a middle name. My brother's middle name is also his father & grandfather's name so I guess sentiment there too.

Both of mine have family names from my side as their middle names. They are names we would also have considered for first names, but ended up choosing something else.

For me it actually made naming them easier.

With my eldest, her middle name is a form of a name that I wanted to use as her first name (for example, I wanted to call her Eliza and her middle name is Elizabeth) and it flows really nice with her first name.

With my youngest, I wanted to use his middle name as his first name, but there is a high profile person with this name right now. We went with a different first name and used it as his middle name.

The reason both names are family names on my side is because I have a different last name to my children, so I wanted my family represented in their names.

It's usually a family tradition.

My middle name is that of my grandma that I never knew. She was killed in a RTA before I was born.

I don't have one.
I can thin of a few reasons though: passing on a name that's in the family, identifying people who have common first names and surnames, baptismal names. Where I live people often have the name of the godfather and godmother as middle names, sometimes even the opposite sex name, but in daily life only use first and last names.

From researching my family tree, middle names make things so much easier! Especially when they are unusual or are passed down from generation to generation.

It makes telling children off easier.

"John Richard Smith come here!" Sounds a lot more foreboding than just calling for John.

Its also useful for honouring family members.

With both of my dc their middle names are very significant, but just not what we wanted for their first name. In one case because it would be confusing with a close relation of the same name, and in the other because it was very old fashioned.

They’re a sort of semi secret name.

Interesting responses - and a powerful tool for getting a child’s attention clearly!!

I understand middle name if you want to honour someone in your family, or you REALLY like the name, but prefer not to give it as first name etc. My sister has my two grandmothers' names, but I have very normal and boring first and middle name, they're not to honour anyone in family, so I sometimes wonder WHY my parents came up to this idea😂I didn't want to give my son (due in July) middle name, but my husband wants him to have his (husband's) grandpa's name. If it's important for him, fine, if it was some random name for the sake of it, I would be against the idea.

I have two older sisters and they were given our parents names as their middle names (one a female version of dad’s name). I was given my mum’s middle name as mine.

My children have middle names, eldest has paternal grandmother’s name and youngest has my middle name, which means 3 generations have it.

It's so you can sound American by using your middle initial whenever you give your name.

Or maybe it's to differentiate you from other people with the same first and last name. "Sorry, you're thinking of Jane Victoria Smith. I'm Jane Aphrodite Smith."

Presumably in the past there were far fewer names in use.
So the middle name gave a bit of diversity.
Eg a thousand James Smiths. Fewer James William Smiths.

I thought it was to differentiate between people with the same names. Especially in the olden days (by which I mean the 1980s) when you did get a lot of people with the exact same name in the same area. We had two girls with the exact same name in my class at school and that wasn't that unusual. So one went by eg Sarah L McNeill and the other was just Sarah McNeill (as she didn't have a middle name - it was a good thing Sarah L did really)!