Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I don't have a middle name

235 replies

NotMyCircusNotMyProblem · 17/02/2023 18:54

Firstly, this is a bit light hearted and I've not lost any sleep over this, nor will I ever but, my parents didn't give me a middle name.

I have elder siblings who both have middle names.

As a child, I did question my mum as to why, but she just brushed it off saying, your name was lovely enough and you didn't need a middle name.

Im now in my 50s and I've never given it much thought until recently - why didn't I get a middle name? Were my parents that fed up with kids they couldn't be bothered to think of one? Did they not think I would feel the odd one out because I don't have one? I can't ask my parents now, they've both passed away.

Maybe middle names in the 60s were not such a big thing then... although all my peers and friends,,, everyone I know seem to have middle names.

So, do you have a middle name, how old are you and AIBU in feeling unloved at not having a middle name?

OP posts:
blippyissilly · 17/02/2023 22:19

I have a middle name but I can't say it's benefited me in any way

No idea why we bother with them

momtoboys · 17/02/2023 22:20

Well, I have two. I'll share one! :)

Original poster
NotMyCircusNotMyProblem · 17/02/2023 22:20

Dacadactyl · 17/02/2023 21:50

Are your siblings Baptised and you aren't?

That's the only reason I can think of.

Nope, we were all baptised. Don't think that has anything to do with it? My OH has a middle name and he wasn't baptised

OP posts:
Nynynyny2018 · 17/02/2023 22:23

I was born in 60s with only first name i am middle child and both siblings have second name Have never thought about it until now and sadly my parents have died so i cannot ask them 😔

ConsuelaHammock · 17/02/2023 22:24

I have two , my siblings have one each. We’re all called after family. Grandparents and great aunts and uncles. All really lovely old fashioned traditional names. My children both have one middle name. I’d have given them more but husband thought one was sufficient.

Original poster
NotMyCircusNotMyProblem · 17/02/2023 22:24

new2mn · 17/02/2023 20:34

What does your birth certificate say? If your siblings have middle names but you don't, maybe there was bad history to your middle name and they removed it when you were little

No middle name on birth certificate. My parents just didn't give me one, I was born when my mum was 40, I was unexpected... maybe she was too tired or shocked to think of one?

OP posts:
70isaLimitNotaTarget · 17/02/2023 22:24

Born in 60s
We all have midde names and I hate mine with a passion, I had slowly eliminated from all my documents except my birth certificate .
My DC don;t have middle names , they don;t feel like they've missed out , and I sometimes invent a middle name for DS to use for a month.

Even weirder than my dodgy middle name is my sister (DC1 ) and my brother (DC3) were christened and I (DC2) had a Salvation Army dedication. So I;m not even christened like them Shock

DragonflyLady · 17/02/2023 22:26

1969 here - no middle name. Only really missed it since having my daughter. Sometimes I think about changing my name so I have the same middle name as hers. Then other times I get over myself.

Abouttimemum · 17/02/2023 22:26

I don’t have a middle name, but neither do any of my siblings. My mum doesn’t either, and none of her family do. My Dad does and some of his side of the family. It doesn’t bother me at all, in fact I do find the whole middle name things a bit pointless really.

Saying that, our son has a middle name, named after my deceased brother, and it was a good way to honour him. So I’ve mainly contradicted myself.

I guess I’m not fussed either way!

TroysMammy · 17/02/2023 22:27

I don't have a middle name and my sister doesn't either. My parents had difficulty naming me and My Mother told me no one gets called by both name. My Auntie suggested my name as she liked it. Obviously didn't like it enough to give the name to her 3 daughters who are older than me.

My Dad is one of 12 and he and his siblings had two names, a few had three names.

My Mother and a lot of her generation were given two names but are always called by their middle name.

sn0wbun · 17/02/2023 22:35

I don't have a middle name because my parents couldn't agree on what it should be

pigsinoodies · 17/02/2023 22:39

sn0wbun · 17/02/2023 22:35

I don't have a middle name because my parents couldn't agree on what it should be

The exact reason why I have three of the ugly fuckers.

Clarabe1 · 17/02/2023 22:44

My mum wasn’t given a middle name and felt slightly aggrieved over it so all 3 of us (70’s kids) were given middle names. The youngest has three names.

RuthW · 17/02/2023 22:44

I have wanted one since I was 8. I deed polled my own.

MrsRandom123 · 17/02/2023 22:51

i have a middle name & have always found it pointless i don’t use it day to day and it was just because my mum liked it & not of significance so didn’t plan to give my kids one but my mum died before my daughter was born so i have her my mums name as a middle name which felt right and my son i gave my grandads name as a middle
name as he had passed away too. My 2nd daughter i wanted to give my grans name as felt she should have a meaningful name too although my oldest is actually a name derived from my grans unintentionally, my husband who isn’t fussed about names or middle names in general said he wanted to name her after his gran and whilst i’ve never been 100% happy with that as theres no meaning to me like the other two & i never actually met her it wasn’t fair to say no. She has asked why she isn’t names after my family & i would have prefered to give her my grans name but she isn’t bothered by it & likes it. I chose all 3 1st names so i couldn’t say no but the 1st 2 only have middle names as they meant something to me

enweto · 17/02/2023 22:52

I actually go by my middle name, my first name is my ‘other’ name!

I have two friends though who only have one christian name. We’re 80s babies.

Elphame · 17/02/2023 22:54

I was born in the 1960s and have 2 middle names

FilthyforFirth · 17/02/2023 22:56

I was born in the 80s, I and my sister have 1 middle name but my brother has two which has always rankled!

Nowthatlovehasperished · 17/02/2023 22:58

Neither of my parents have middle names.

My middle name is so awful that I'd rather not have one at all.

Zizz · 17/02/2023 22:59

Count yourself lucky, OP. Not only was I not given a middle name, even my first name is a second-hand one that belonged to my Granny!

MrsDrDear · 17/02/2023 23:01

No middle names in 4 generations of my side of the family. Newest family member is now 5th generation, and she has been given a middle name.

DramaAlpaca · 17/02/2023 23:08

I was born in the 60s and have one middle name. I was always envious of my younger sibling who was given two middle names.

My DF has a middle name but my DM doesn't and regrets it as she hates her name.

I suppose I'm grateful to have a middle name as it's the name I go by, I've never liked my first name.

ShippingNews · 17/02/2023 23:09

Nope, I was born in the 60s, dsis in the 50 s, neither of us has one. It's not because our parents were fed up with having kids and couldn't be bothered, dsis was born after 10 years of struggle with infertility and a stillborn, and I was born 6 years later . We were both much loved and wanted, we just didn't have middle names. . Can't say it's ever bothered me at all.

TamzinGrey · 17/02/2023 23:10

OP I feel for you, because I am also the youngest child - of five in my case - and the only one who wasn't given a middle name. My four siblings were all given lovely middle names, but diddly squat for me.
My parents had no explanation for this when I asked them
I assume that they just got bored with thinking up names.
I'm also a 60s baby.

TheOriginalEmu · 17/02/2023 23:15

NotMyCircusNotMyProblem · 17/02/2023 18:54

Firstly, this is a bit light hearted and I've not lost any sleep over this, nor will I ever but, my parents didn't give me a middle name.

I have elder siblings who both have middle names.

As a child, I did question my mum as to why, but she just brushed it off saying, your name was lovely enough and you didn't need a middle name.

Im now in my 50s and I've never given it much thought until recently - why didn't I get a middle name? Were my parents that fed up with kids they couldn't be bothered to think of one? Did they not think I would feel the odd one out because I don't have one? I can't ask my parents now, they've both passed away.

Maybe middle names in the 60s were not such a big thing then... although all my peers and friends,,, everyone I know seem to have middle names.

So, do you have a middle name, how old are you and AIBU in feeling unloved at not having a middle name?

My sister is the only one out of 6 siblings with no middle name, she’s s lot younger than the rest of us and my mum had a very hard time thinking of a name for her. That took weeks, I think she was so glad to agree on a name that thoughts of a middle name would have tipped her over the edge 😂
but she’s no less loved because of it.