MIDDLE NAMES

[MARTIN1]

To think middle names, serve no useful purpose and are given by pretentious parents to include older relatives names or because you couldn't agree with your partner on just one forename.

MWE describe it thus:

Name, Middle
The name you try to hide because it is so crap. Often it is a name that has been passed from generation to generation through the family and which you have been given to keep your granny happy. This knowledge is sod all use when you are having the shit kicked out of you in the playground for being called Windermere.

[ghostyslovesheep]

Names your ffs- fat fingers

[vvviola]

I quite like middle names as, other than the "you are in serious trouble now" factor, they've been a nice way to acknowledge the female members of the family who are important but whose surnames have been changed/ignored etc.

So DD1 has a middle name that the past 5 generations of my family have used in some way (1st/middle) and DD2 has a middle name from DH's grandmother on his Mum's side. Neither are particularly odd or bullying worthy, and DD1 loves being able to follow the name back.

[Whiskwarrior]

Also, the majority of posters on this thread feel more about your continued posting than they do about your goady subject matter.

[00100001]

So actually your "dealbreaker" is "I must have power of veto over any potential middle names and if you persist in giving any one of our children a middle name, no matter how important it is to you - that is our relationship over?"


Nice.

[NickiFury]

My Mum's brother asked her to name me a certain name, she didn't like it so didn't and he was killed a few months later on active service . When my dsis was born she gave the name to her as a middle name and I have given it to my dd as a middle name. It means a lot to my Mum, dsis and I and now dd. So YABU.

[FenellaFellorick]

They aren't pretentious. How daft is that.

Pointless, well, depends what you believe constitutes a 'point', doesn't it?

Are they vital? No. Will a child be damaged without one? No. But the 'point', well -

personal choice? - maybe people just bloody like it and that is fine.
tradition?
culture? - there are cultures which have very strict naming rules, which includes middle names. My husband's culture for example has a long long and vital to them tradition of honouring ancestors and demonstrating blood ties through naming. There is a set way you name. First son to father's father, second son to mother's father, first daughter to father's mother, second daughter to mother's mother, then it goes to grandparents. That sense of history and identity is very important to them. Pointless? Hardly.

At the end of the day, nobody has ever been hurt by having a middle name and it affects nobody at all, so let those who want them have them and those who don't don't and accept that your way is not the only way.

Dealbreaker. That made me laugh. I love you so much, please have my babies, I want to build a life with you, you are my everything, wait, what? You want to give our child a middle name? Begone, Devil Woman, this above all I cannot tolerate.

[Vatersay]

Martin You might not want to lay down the law too hard about that. I can't think of any woman I know that would agree to that scenario.

Even my 7 yo DCs know that you have to agree on your child's name together...

[LavenderLeigh]

I think the actual deal breaker would be the moment you uttered your ridiculous "terms and conditions"
Have you always had this urge to be dictatorial, or does it only apply to potential future fantasy relationships?

[NobodyLivesHere]

my children have a middle name because they have a name that reflects where i come from and a middle name that reflects where their dad comes from.

[mochindu]

YABU to call parents pretentious for giving their child two names, while quoting from 'MWE' and expecting anyone to know what the hell you're talking about, then using the word 'thus'.

[vienna1981]

My middle name is Charles and I hate it. I don't know what my parents were thinking of. Maybe they'd run out of reasonable names by the time I was born (seventh child ) so threw caution to the wind and chanced upon a big - eared toff who's got a queen for a mother. Barstuds.

[rosy71]

We always said we wouldn't give our dc middle names. We both have 2 middle names; my name is long & doesn't fit on forms & dp is known by one of his middle names which makes things confusing. However, when ds1 was born, dp suddenly decided he should have a middle name so I went along with that. When ds2 was born, I was prepared & he has my grandfather's name as a middle name. Other male members of my family also have it & I like the fact that he has dp's surname & a middle name from my family. Both sides are represented. I wish ds1 had a middle name with meaning too.

[Whiskwarrior]

Somewhere there's a beacon flashing in the sky, Maryz.

We just need the third creep of late now and we'll have a full house.

[Ilovecrapcrafts]

Ours are family names and we also take confirmation names

[SoupDragon]

PMSL @ "deal breaker".

Middle names are essential so that you can escalate the name depending on how naughty the child is being. DS2 often needed both his middle names and the surname.

[SamJohnsonsBoy]

With boys, 2 middle names is a sure sign that Dad plays cricket. "A B C Jones" is thought to look better on the score card than "A B Jones" for some reason.

I'm not familiar with women's cricket so can't say if it's the same with girls' middle names.

[SoupDragon]

What utter nonsense!

[NiNoKuni]

I don't have a middle name. My DS has two. Yes, two whole middle names. One from an ancestor on each side of the family, and his first name is an ancestral name too. Everyone says he sounds like a future prime minister, so give it forty-odd years and if the PM has 2 middle names, you'll be able to say 'I briefly read a comment from some rando on MN and it was the PM's mum', you lucky thing

[NiNoKuni]

Oh, and the closest his dad has got to cricket is once driving past Old Trafford.

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

I chose both my DDs' middle names because I like them. No other reason. So they have no point other than that they sound pretty (IMO). And I'm fine with that

[FithColumnist]

My middle name's Geraint. It's a bugger to spell and nobody in England seems to pronounce it right anyway.

Apropos of which, AIBU to wish my middle name was Windermere?

[Fluffyears]

I feel left out. I have no middle name. My father wanted to call me something god awful so my mother had to think fast as my name s the same as an actress which I like. My brother had no middle name as my mum didn't want the family arguments about naming him after someone. Mum has always been referred to by her middle name.

[FarFromAnyRoad]

Maryz

Oh fuck off you twat

Best. Comment. Ever. Well, to this particular twat it is and I'm sure it could cover a multitude of potential twats and their twattery.

[HighwayDragon]

But if a child doesn't have a middle name how will they know when they're really in trouble my mum shouting HIGHWAY DRAGON is bad enough but HIGHWAY MORTIMER DRAGON?