To be known as 'middle name'

[Lemondrop99]

A friend has just had a lovely little baby. They've picked two beautiful traditional names. I won't use the names here but he was announced as say Alex William (to be known as William).

I don't want to ask her in case it appears rude, but I'm genuinely curious about why someone would name their child that way around?

I presume that one name may be for sentimental purposes and one for daily use. But why not just name him William Alex?

Anyone know why someone might choose to use a middle name on a daily basis right from birth instead of giving it as a first name?

It's not uncommon. There were six boys in my school year with names like this.

Seemed to be a family tradition.

I know several people who go by their middle names. The ones that have done it since babies (ie their parents choice) normally do it for family tradition reasons. The others have done it of their own choice as they didn't like their first name.

For me, it was to avoid an unfortunate set of initials.
So I was, for example Sally Annabel Smith, known as Annabel (Sally being a family name going back generations they wanted to use) to avoid being ASS.

Using the example above, every girl is called Sally in the family, and then they use everyones middle names so when you say "Sally is getting married" you don't have to explain which Sally.

If you ask your friend who her baby is named for, she will probably tell you the information you want without you having to ask directly

Sometimes the name just flows better that way but they prefer the middle name. My mum, sister & brother all go by their middle names.

Can cause problems later on in life if the child doesn't identify with their legal forename, which they have to write on their exams and have on their certificates. Same goes with nicknames that are quite different, e.g Bertie and Robert.

I've had issues with this as an exam officer in the past. Not saying it happens with everyone but it is something to be aware of

I have the very problem. I am named after my mum (first name) and my gran (middle name) but called a shortened version of my middle name because it was all very confusing...which it still is! I don't advocate it but I can see why my dad did it. It has certainly caused problems through my life and career for sure