Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Why is there such negativity regarding the middle names Mae/May, Rose & Grace?

89 replies

Sasparillo · 15/01/2013 20:39

After reading a few different posts on MN, there seems to be a lot of slating of the above stated middle names. I honestly don't see why people hate them so much! Back in 'my day' it was Jane & Louise that were popular girls middle names, mine being Jane. It has never ever bothered me in the slightest that I share the same middle name with half the female population in my age group, I don't see why it would bother anyone. It's only a middle name. I think that Mae, Rose and Grace are perfectly acceptable and quite frankly, very pretty names for a first or middle name, so what's the issue? I'd understand if people were naming their daughters Gertrude or Fanny! Lol x

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
katiecubs · 15/01/2013 20:43

i don't hate them - think they are all lovely :)

poocatcherchampion · 15/01/2013 20:47

Unimaginative and ubiquitous. As are jane and Louise!

willyoulistentome · 15/01/2013 20:50

Overused and boring!

MolotovCocktail · 15/01/2013 20:52

It's because they're popular, I think. 'Baby Names' frequenters to be name geeks (as in interested and knowledgeable about names/naming trends and get excited about names) and so those that seem "unimaginative and ubiquitous" are generally disliked.

I consider myself to be a name geek and I love Grace, Mae and Rose :) Very pretty ideed an can see why they're popular.

StetsonsAreCool · 15/01/2013 20:55

My middle name is Jane too Smile

I don't think it's a problem with them being middle names - let's face it, the middle name only gets announced when the baby arrives, and then very quickly forgotten by everyone who isn't close family.

I think the slating comes when it's bolted onto the first name with a hyphen.

Trills · 15/01/2013 21:01

Is there?

I haven't heard any.

Are you sure you're not imagining it?

What's wrong with Gertrude?

Fanny is slang for either vagina or bum, but Gertrude is not. Now you are being just as arbitrary and unreasonable as the people you are complaining about.

OkayHazel · 15/01/2013 21:03

Little sister's middle name is Grace, but this wasn't common 17 years ago when she was born.

They just get a bad rep for being common, and MN types often want unusual, that's all.

PoppyWearer · 15/01/2013 21:07

Eh?

All lovely names.

Maybe the problem is when they are double-barrelled?

takeaway2 · 15/01/2013 21:11

Our daughter actually has two of the three names you mentioned!

We liked Grace because we wanted a 'virtue' and Faith didn't quite go with our surname. We didn't realise that Grace was that popular! May/Mae is actually my middle name. So we named her that too. We've since met a few little girls with middle names of Rose (my great aunt's name!) and May. Didn't realise it was that common or popular either.

I have older female relatives called daisy, ivy, rose, may...! Grin

TheSecondComing · 15/01/2013 21:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PoppyWearer · 15/01/2013 21:17

I forgot to mention that my middle name is Jane and DD's is Rose!

dixiechick1975 · 15/01/2013 21:20

I went to a girls school - 28 in my class had the middle name Louise! Just me and my friend didn't - come to think of it she didn't have a middle name.

Viviennemary · 15/01/2013 21:20

Nothing wrong with those names. They are quite nice. Not keen on the spelling Mae though.

InLoveWithDavidTennant · 15/01/2013 21:21

my middle name is rose... i think its lovely, it was my nans name

so cheers to those that think its boring (or whatever) Hmm

there are worse names out there imo

Smudging · 15/01/2013 21:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AgathaTrunchbull · 15/01/2013 21:25

They're nice enough names, but seem to be all over the place at the moment.

My middle name's Louise. Hate it. It's pointless and meaningless to me - apparently it just sounded 'right' with my first name.

WorkingtoohardMama · 15/01/2013 21:26

My dd's mn is grace, and I think it's beautiful, so what if its popular!

tammytoby · 15/01/2013 23:14

Because they are overused and dull! They serve no purpose in identifying a person nor do they always have much meaning. Might as well name them 'girl'.

Tortoiseonthehalfshell · 15/01/2013 23:18

I do always tell people who are considering those names, which is to say, all people ever, that everyone's daughter will also have the same middle name. I mean, fine, and everything, but there are squillions of names out there.

Trinpy · 15/01/2013 23:33

They are all perfectly nice names, just a bit blah and unimaginative.

Original poster
Sasparillo · 15/01/2013 23:38

Gertrude :-o come on, It's my dp's grandmothers middle name (she is 85!) and even she is too mortified to tell people what it is, I had to ask his mum. She's totally embarrassed by it!

OP posts:
emmyloo2 · 16/01/2013 02:38

I love both names but when every girl born has them as her middle name, it just screams of unoriginality to me. It doesn't bother me terribley to be honest but enough that I wouldn't use any of the above as a middle name.

However, I am considering Rose as a first name, that's how much I love it.

TheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 16/01/2013 03:25

Dd1's middle name is Jayne, after my mum.

Dd2's middle name is Rose, after DH's nan.

It would appear to some that makes them "unimaginative and dull" Hmm but both names go beautifully with their first names and were chosen because they mean something to our family. And it's nobody else's business anyway.

Lebkuchenlover · 16/01/2013 11:30

Because they don't serve any purpose. They don't help in 'identifying' a person, which is the purpose of a name. They are just fillers.

Middle names are your chance to either honour loved ones or to be a little more original,especially if the first name is quite common (e.g. think Harry Jones or Ella Smith - there must be thousands of them and a more unique middle name might help identify them).

We sometimes forget WHY we name our children imo.

FoofFighter · 16/01/2013 11:33

They are so well used because they go well with so many names, just as Louise in it's day did as well. Nothing at all wrong with them apart from being overused.