to wonder why some parents decide not to give their children middle names?

[BelleTheBeatnik]

I'm not saying they should, I'm just wondering if it's because they don't feel a middle name would fit well with the first or surname, or perhaps because it was stressful enough choosing one name, let alone too!
If you did give your child a middle name, was it because you specifically liked a second name, or wanted to honour a family member, or was it just a case of "that's the done thing". Just curious, my brain has weird musings at this time of night!

Our last name is one that is also a first name and getting names that sounded right was hard. Plus at the time ds1 was going to be our only child and we would have had to give him two middle names to keep everyone happy so we just chose not to.
Dh has a middle name that means nothing to his parents at all, they cant even explain why they picked it 37 years later, and his mothers maiden name which I can understand.
My parents never gave us any due to the fact that their own parents had about five middle names each and form filling was a nightmare.

I have a middle name. dp doesn't - apparently it was for if, and when he was baptised he got to choose his own

DS has two middle names, his first name was a relative of dp's who he loved and I thought it was a lovely name too; his first middle was a man we both admired in a professional capacity who we didn't think he was going to make it to the New Year (DS Christmas Day baby) man still alive 6 years later And his last middle name was after my lovely Granpa, who also had this as his third name - but strangely enough was always called by this as a first name.

Think as we left it quite late to have a DS and that at the time he was possibly (and after medical reasons) he was definitely going to be an only - we used up all our favourite names in one go

Some people are taken aback by it, especially as his surname is a quite common first name too, and when he says his first and surname together, people often think it is a hyphenated first name.

most people are!!

I have no middle name, dh doesn't and we didn't give our dc middle names.
they are unique enough (not in the top 1000), but not silly or too old fashioned. my parents both were named after their god parents and both hated it. think very old fashioned even 60 years ago and no comeback for a reason...

oh, yes the form filling. my dad had once fun at immigration because his ticket had his names in a different order than his passport (6 middle names).

My DS has 2 middle names - both family names, one after each of our dads. They were originally going to be his first and middle name and he was going to be called by a shorter version of one IYSWIM but then we added his first name and just used them as middle names. We used both for him as we originally thought he'd be our only one so wanted to get them used but we are know trying for number 2 so if we have another boy we might be stuck for names now!

I've always wondered why they do. I was horribly embarrassed at primary school, being middle-named after my aunt, and having to give my full name...

I don't have one because my first one and surname are long and my parents thought I would struggle at 5 yrs to write it! A little silly as it would have been a very short period and Louise would have been the name, which I like.

My DS was supposed to have one...

My dad and DP's brother have the same name, and it goes well with his first and last names - I thought it would be nice to have it in there.

On the way to register him, DP suddenly objected, started asking why I was getting to pick the names and how it wasn't fair

So I left it out, we walked out and he said - what happened to his middle name? Um, you objected...

Aye, but I was only joking.

He tried it again with DD, my granny had died the year before so she got my granny's name as a middle name, he wanted to put his in there (again on the way to register DD), which I would have done, except he insisted on Betty rather than Elizabeth - so I ignored him.

My ds's don't. Whats the point. Dh doesn't have one. I do. Doubt it will hold them back in life. Bet you, John James Siegfrieg Archibauld Jones will get the job over my ds.

Only DD1 has a middle name, mainly as our dd's all have hyphenated names and their surname is also a girls first name (but spelt differently) so it would have been overkill to have middle names too.

We could barely agree on first names, let alone middle ones.

DDs have middle names, one after a relative and one after a dear friend of mine.

I'm not going to argue here about the patriarchy and all its evils, but given that both children have their father's surname, I thought it was an efficient way of passing down something from my side of the family. DD1 is the fourth generation to bear her middle name.

We gave ds two middle names - after both his Granddads. Dh insisted he had to have both. I was fine with his Dad's name, even though I'm not terribly keen on it, as his father was dead and it was a way to remember him (especially as ds has my surname). Couldn't see why he had to have my father's as well, but dh insisted. And it's quite nice so does balance the one I don't like so much. Only when we told MIL, she said, oh, your Dad never liked his name!

Also, as people have said, middle names are useful to avoid confusion between people with the same first and surnames.

My mother has two middle names for a very sweet reason. We didn't know the full story for many years, but eventually discovered my Mother was adopted. She'd never been told and only found out long after her parents were dead. When she got a copy of her original birth certificate, we realised her parents had kept the two names her birth mother had chosen. What a lovely tribute to the woman who had given them their longed-for baby.

I got to have my (unusual) choice of middle name for ds as dh chose his first name. So stopped the arguments! If we have dc2 situation will be reversed.

My middle name has always been used as my first name. It's very confusing in a situation where my first name is being used and it always takes me a minute to twig that it's me being called.

My DC have the same four middle names as that is the done thing in DH's culture.

For those wondering about changing/adding names:

I was registered, by my dad, as X Y; my mum had intended me to be called X Z & was very cross (Y was his sister's name which he just snuck in, bad dad) so Z was added at the end making me X Y Z on a later birth cert

For about 18 months I was known as X but then my mother went off it - she had never wanted me to be called Y, so I was then called Z but officially (eg when starting sec school) was still X Y Z aaargh

When I got my first driving licence at 17 it said X Z but when I applied for my first passport I submitted the application as Z X & it wasn't a problem so since then I am officially Z X except on birth cert

HTH

People used to use the mother's maiden name as a middle name - my grandfather's middle name was Smith.

We intend to use DH's "blood surname" as a middle name for all our children - DH's grandfather was killed during the War, when his grandmother remarried she changed her son's surname to that of her new husband so the name was lost from the family.

Santas, my dh is very glad that tradition died out - his poor grandfather had perfectly nice first and surnames but the unfortunately middle of Butfield!

Seriously I think it is silly to think it might stop somebody being identified correctly because they have a middle name.

I am guessing you mean because they don't have a middle name?

Certainly happened with my grandmother - very boring surname (Smith/Jones level of commonness), fashionable for the time first and second names. Only her second middle name differentiated her from the other woman exactly her age (same D.O.B.) on the hospital ward.

My middle name is my mum's first name.

My DH's middle name is a name his dad thought of literally as he was having the birth certificate sorted... assumed he needed one and thought of the first name that came to his head... not a good one... . Thankfully his first name is LOVELY ;)

All my DC have middle names. Most of my family and both DH and I have them too. It seemed 'normal'. Also, several of my family go by their middle name, so it seemed like adding an extra choice if they didn't like their first name later in life. I also enjoy choosing names and wanted to extend that as much as possible. It also makes the names flow into surname nicely. In addition, friends at school with no middle name felt left out sometimes and seemed boring compared. Those with embarassing middle names may have wished they didn't have them though!

My mum doesn't believe in middle names, so I didn't get one. She also lumbered me with a boring one-syllable first name that can't be shortened. I can't stand my name, but can't think of anything else to change it to.

DD1 has a 3 syllable first name and a 4 syllable middle name . The idea was she could easily change her name if she didn't like it (so she picked an absolutely awful shortening of her beautiful first name that makes me cringe every time I hear it :( )

I have been tracing our family tree for many years. So many ancestors had exactly the same name it's always a relief to come across a middle name. Serves as a double-check that I've got the right John Smith.

I do wonder at the "usefulness" of picking the 'stand-by' middle name - Sarah Jane, Jane Elizabeth, Emma Louise, Holly Ann, Ellie May. Doesn't distinguish you if it is exactly the same first name-middle name combo that everyone else picks.

My children have middle names because I as much as I love their Hebrew names, the many issues of having such very obviously non-English names made me put them in the middle instead. Though their Hebrew/middle names are used a lot more than most middle names, I think (and not just because of how often they are in trouble ).

I don't have one, because my parents thought my first name is long enough, although I also have my mother's maiden name on my birth certificate. To compensate, I gave DS 3 middle names!

I'm half Irish, so by the time i was fully paid up member of the RC Church, i have about 112 middle names. .