To think middle names are pointless

[RandomUser456878]

We’ve just had a baby boy & we are deciding on names. We’ve chosen a first name & stuck on middle names, just because it’s the norm

Then it occurred to me, not once in my life has anybody used my middle name so they’re literally pointless

I searched mumsnet & there’s loads of posts asking for a good middle name for {insert name}

Other than maybe a family name, whats the point in them?

My children and husband don't have surnames - Icelandic and hardly anyone has a surname here. We tend to use middle names to distinguish between two people with the same first name much more than we use last names.

My son has the same name as another boy in his year and they are known as Tómas Orri and Tómas Kári (not real names), not Tómas Jónsson and Tómas Helgason.

In a bigger country, middle names give you the chance to distinguish between people with the same first name and same surname - it's not that uncommon even if your name isn't Mary Smith.

This. My middle name is from my auntie & my son's middle name is a family tradition passed down several generations.

I share a middle name with my great grandmother, my nana, my mum and now my eldest daughter. I only have one middle name but she has two - the one from my side and her paternal grandmother’s middle name.

My youngest has two middle names too. One is her dads favourite name which I wasn’t keen on so we didn’t use as a first name, and another family name which she shares with cousins etc.

I love all the connections their names represent.

If you have a fairly common first and last name an unusual middle name differentiates you

I don't have a middle name and have a very common first name. Which was fine until I married and took a very common surname. Think John Smith. I'd have liked someone to have bothered more tbh.

We use people’s initials to quickly identify their work and emails and all sorts. Very useful to have a middle initial at my workplace!
Middle names also save my family tree from quite a bit of confusion as by the time you go back 100-150 years they all seem to have the same handful of first names and are differentiated mostly by their middle names (usually their mothers maiden name, handily).
All my kids have meaningful middle names, not sure I see the point of the “does Gracie Lou or Gracie Sue sound better?” type posts as day to day nobody is using the whole name, but whatever floats your boat.

They aren't pointless.

They are exceptionally useful for identifying the difference between John Taylor and John Taylor when doing family history.

I do family history. They are a brilliant invention.

For our kids we chose fairly normal first names that could be easily shortened and more unusual middle names so they'd have a bit of a choice about how they presented without having to actually change their names. They both like their middle names and have had some personalised stuff include their middle names. Their middle names are both characters from myth and legend and my kids enjoy that connection, have the books and other related paraphernalia. It's been fun for them and, to a very minor extent, enriching. One teen now goes by her middle name. And the other used it as a stage/pen name for school drama (she thinks it sounds more like an actress's name than her first name does!).

OTOH I have never used my middle name and find it a bit of a nuisance!

My mother didn't have a middle name (and had a short first name you couldn't shorten). Once, when I talked with her about it she said it had never been an issue and my brother and I only had middle names because my dad wanted them, but neither name has much connection or thought behind it (other than - that scans well).

So my conclusion is - they aren't necessarily pointless, but there's not much point in throwing one in just because you think you ought to and there's nothing wrong with not using one.

Three of us in our family have the same first initial so our middle initials are very useful for mail

Oh this made me laugh - My DD has two middle names - and only gets the full title when I am really pissed off.

Gosh that's terrifying.

Some great examples here on how middle names can be the difference between uniquely identifying one person from another. I’m from the generation of middle names Jane (my middle name) and Anne.

I think middle names are a great cultural tradition. I had loads of fun picking the right ones for my four. Surely anything that enhances a person's sense of individuality/connects them to ancestors or place of birth/ gives them a sense of belonging etc has to be a good thing.
Don't middle names also add another layer of safeguarding on things like medical records etc?

A middle name can distinguish you from people with the same.name.. if you are Mary Smith you might.be glad of being named Mary Charleston Smith because officialdom won't confuse you with all the other Mary Smiths.in their records.

Yes they do.

I had been known that 'never events' have happened in medical settings where the wrong patient has had the wrong medical procedure. A middle name makes it less likely to happen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-10683833

I actually quite like them - children are given their names before they’re old enough to have an opinion on them, and if they can’t stand their names when they’re older, at least with a middle name they have an option of something else they can use.

Agreed. No-one in my family has a middle name. My DH never had one. I had a middle name that was made fun of all through my childhood, so when I changed my name to my married name I also got rid of my middle name.

Our Two DC have not been given a middle name.

I find they are either pointless, or people are mildly to extremely embarrassed by them.

How have I never known this! My dad's side is Irish Catholic and I can't think of any that use their first name (...or Christian name...can you hear that penny drop?!).

I'm doing family history on ancestry and it's a revelation. People I've known all my life, and I never knew their proper name!

I gave DC middle names that gave really cool initials. So many lovely names and get to use so few- the more, the merrier.

This! I spent a little time on my father's family tree. Every generation was ' Henry Smith' with no middle name. I was so pleased to fine the one generation that was William George Smith or similar. What a rebel!

Seriously, it's sometimes nice to pass on family names as a middle name. My ExDP had his mother's maiden name as a middle name, which was nice.

I don’t have a middle name, just a fairly common and short first and surname. I’ve had a fair few convos with people who don’t believe that and are convinced I’m just hiding an embarrassing one!

It's particularly common in Scotland to use family surnames as middle names. I like it. It's a traditional thing. And it helps record family ties. There's been a few brickwalls where a maiden name as a middle name for a sibling has helped identify who parents are. It's a godsend for genealogy.

My children have their dad's surname but my daughter's middle name (which is also mine) has been passed down from mother to daughter for 6 generations and counting.

They're a good way to include the mother's family heritage if a child has their dad's surname.

@RandomUser456878 I have a wonderful middle name! I love that I have it, it’s ’Joy’ X

My grandma used to say that people without middle names were common 😂😂 don’t quite no why!

It depends, I like my middle name as it was my great grandmas and I'd not have really thought of her if I didn't have it. It sparked conversations with my nana and my mum growing up about her and is a way for her life to echo down the generations a little longer. My son has a middle name for his great grandfather as we inherited some money when he died and this enabled us to have ivf to have him. Another member of the family lost someone dear and their friend was so there for them that they gave their child their name as a middle name etc etc.

Not a necessity but a nice thing, for some.