Middle names

[applepieinthesky]

We have finally agreed on a girls name that we both love but are struggling to agree on a middle name.

DP doesn't have a middle name and neither do a lot of people in his family. He argues it is unnecessary as middle names are so rarely used and says we don't need one at all.

Is he right? Do you know anyone that doesn't have a middle name and are they bothered by it or not?

DH doesn't have one, and is unfazed by it.

however, I wanted our DC to have middle names, so he said it was up to me to choose them. DS has 1, DD has 2, and they are all names of friends/family who mean a lot to us both.

My mum has no middle name. Not a problem AFAIK.

Often people use family names that they are not so fond of as middles - eg DS1 has my dad's name (I like it but DH is less keen), but if you don't have any names like that, don't bother.

Also it saves using a fave name for a middle and then wishing you hadn't if you have another child!

Beyond a bit of mild teasing that she was trying to hide something embarrassing it didn't bother my DF at all.

She wasn't her mum decided her full first and surname, both of which are long and quite complicated, were enough to learn to spell.

We're the same StarBall The name we have chosen is three syllables and will also be taking DP's surname which is double barrel so I think it is long enough as it is. Unless we use a one syllable middle name but that rules out quite a lot.

I have no middle name. I have never minded not having one. In fact, I like the fact that it saves me time filling in forms.

You never, ever use your middle name, do you?

Neither my mum, dad sister or I have middle names, great no problem. However my dad is the middle one of 5 children and the other 4 all do - so all I would say is if you don't give this child a middle name, don't give any subsequent DC one either. (My DH and 3DS's all do have middle names)

I don't have one, neither does my brother. I'm not sure why but its never been a problem for either of us.

I am known by my middle name by some people. I like having a middle initial, and use it in my signature. My DH has none, and isn't bothered, his sisters don't either but would have liked one. My dad isn't bothered by his lack of middle name.

I am a big fan if them personally, but for me they should have some significance and not just sound pretty. DD is named after her two maternal grandmothers, with their names squashed together to form another name, which also happens to have a significant meaning in its own right. DC2 will have the middle name Robin or Robyn, which is significant to us.

My dmum doesn't have one and has quite a "sparse" name as well. She blames wartime rationing

It has never bothered her and the absence of one is as much a talking point for her as the discussion of what a middle name is.

I do have friends who are known by their middle names though, for various reasons. If your dc doesn't have one then they dont have an alternative name if their first name doesn't suit them. That said, they just develop a nickname of some sort anyway so it is not a big deal.

I don't have one and felt robbed!! I made up for it with my children - they have several!

I think the benefits are

• you have a second option if your child doesn't suit or like their first name.
• very handy to let your child know they are really in trouble.
• the child might have to use it if they have a common name. We had two lots of students at my school with the same name and they were always distinguished by their middle names. Kate Louise Wilson and Kate Marie Wilson and Jenny Belinda McDonald and Jenny Louise McDonald.
• if you have played it safe with the first name here's your chance to have some fun. John Balthazar Smith is more interesting than just John Smith.

It has several different options for nicknames and we definitely don't have to worry about it being common. There were only 3 babies born in the UK in 2010 with this name.

I love my middle name, it's Dutch (like my mum) and unusual. DH doesn't have a middle name and isn't bothered. I STRONGLY feel that kids should have middle names. DS1 has 3, so will DS2. I see it as a parental right to choose weird and elaborate middle names.