How many middle names are too many?

[Lizadork]

Just that really, how many middle names are too many?
Have you come a cross anyone with a lot?

My family/friends tend to have no middle name, one middle or two.

What about when you add your partner's name as a middle name - that adds things up too.
Example:
Sarah Louise Elizabeth Williamson (dad's-fake-surname) James (mum's-fake-surname).
Receiving post or filling in forms as Miss S L E W James.

Just feels like a lot.

As a last born child on the way, it is hard not to want to throw every name at her.

All names fake - S L E W James - thank goodness haha

Three or more is too many.

My child has three middle names. Five names in total. For daily life, she only uses the first and last names. eg. W.B. rather than W.I. T. D, Biffer

It is pretty unusual to have that many, but why not?

It is more unusual, what inspired you to use 3 wheresthebiffer2?

3 is too many

They only put two middle names on a driving licence. Any more than that is pointless IMO.

My DP has three middle names and he hates 2 out of the three. He doesn't know where they came from and is convinced that they are the names of his Dad's mates in the pub!!

To many middle names will be pointless and won’t fit on any official forms, passports etc., bitter experience from my own name. Two middle names and double surname! My sons just have one short middle name and it works much better.

My parents each have 4 given names and one last name. I guess it was traditional at the time (both born a few years after the war).

But for my brothers and I they gave us only 2 names which seems ideal to me.

Having a middle name makes it less likely to have someone else with the same name. Which does happen - a colleague of mine has the same name as a nutcase who killed an old lady with a knife ! He nearly got arrested in an airport once

It's also a great opportunity to use a name that you wouldn't dare use as a first name, or just a name that you like but can't or don't want to use for whatever reason.

But more than one middle name seems overkill, and also it dilutes the significance of the names. When you have 10 middle names they can't all have a deep meaning/connection to you, can they ?

So for me more than one middle name is unnecessary, unless you have two people you absolutely want to honour and only one child I guess...

I should add that the gazillion middle names my parents have never bothered them that much. They're not a hindrance or an annoyance (except to me when I have to remember them all and put them on official forms, but that doesn't happen everyday either !)

There just doesn't seem to be much of a point to them. Which is why my kids only have two names.

Three or more is daft imo

Personally I wouldn’t have more than two. Although it depends on how long the names are as they could be all very long or a mixture which wouldn’t be so bad. That being said I don’t think it matters that much as nobody uses their full name that often, but would need to fit on some forms!

I knew a girl who had 11 middle names. God knows why.

My eldest has 2 middle names, although technically one is a surname (my mums maiden name)
My other two just have one middle name each.

One or two is enough. Both my kids have two: my daughter my mother's and grandmother's, my son has both his grandfathers' names. I have two. My sister has two, another has one.

Well two is too many. Otherwise it wouldn't be a middle name.

Three I think is too many. Two is OK, but I like one, personally. I use DD's a lot day to day, if I'm serious about something and she's being silly. Or if I'm making up a song with her name in it. Any more than one and it'd be too unwieldy.

I've always felt one middle name is enough if you're not super posh.

I can never understand why people give their children more than 1.

I have 2 middle names. I only use one. The other one has been removed from all official documentation apart from my birth certificate.

I gave my LO 2 for the same reason.

I e heard from a teacher friend (university professor of around 30 years now) that she’s noticed a really odd but strong correlation beyween lots of middle names and being a pita. Not causative obviously but correlative. Noticeably apparently.
Personally My feeling is that any more than 2 middle names is a bit much (not sure quite what I mean nor why)

@BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup you gave your LO 2 because you only use one of yours?

crusty

Its all personal preference and meanings behind the names.
I have 2 middle names.
My child has a hyphenated first name with 2 middle names, which are named after grandparents.
Shes already individual with her main name being a combination of both of our names in one then hyphenated with a name that went with it.
Her initials are C-R.F.J.K

2 is definitely the middle name limit for me personally, I love girls names and there are LOADS I’d love to use but I just feel its burdensome overkill and doesn’t sound right to have more than 2 middle names. My daughter has 3 names then surname and any future girls will have as well just to shoehorn in some that I adore. By contrast my sons don’t have any middle names as we found ourselves about to give them ‘meh’ ones that neither of us loved, it just felt like filler for the sake of it when we realised that the position of compromise meant we just ended up with middle names neither of us were crazy about, the decision was literally made in the registry office not to use them as they just felt like pointless filler.

We knew we were only having one child, hence lots of names for that one, as it was our only chance at naming somebody. lol.