Jonathan Jack as middle names

[Mottledgrey]

Does it sound a bit much? We are set on a first name which is short 4 letters long but my DH wants to recognise his Grandad and I want to recognise my dad and neither of us want to back down. Can we have both middle names or is it too much of a mouthful? Our surname is also short!

Johnathan isn't a name and Jack isn't short for it.

It’s absolutely fine.

Thanks all. The first name begins with E and the last name begins with R. Similar name would be:

Ethan Jonathan Jack Rhode

Even though Jonathan and Jack might sometimes be the same name my DH only knew his grandfather as Jack so it would be weird!

My first thought too, Prince Harry is Henry isn't he? Same sort of thing. I wouldn't do it.

The name Jack is a derivative of John

yes, it is - but Jonathan has nothing to do with Jack or John. If I tell you that the original Hebrew form of John was Jochanan, you can see more easily that it's not just a shortened form of Jonathan. The only thing they have in common is the first element, which is also shared by a lot of other Hebrew names such as Joseph and Joel. I wouldn't have any problem at all with the suggested combination of names.

John and Jonathan are different names. Their Hebrew meanings ate not the same.

It's fine to use both imo.

Jack is probably from Jacobus not John or Jonathan. It became used as a diminutive of John.

I think it’s fine - quite like it when people use middle names that are a bit incongruous (a nickname for example) it has a story and that is the most important bit

Having spent many hours in dentists waiting room filling out forms that ask you to complete your dcs' full names every damn time you go for a check up, I'd definitely stick to one middle name per child

That said, although Jack can be a nickname for Jonathan or John (often where a son was given the same name as his father, to distinguish them), so it does seem a bit odd to me, middle names are rarely heard out loud between the birth announcement and then the child's graduation, wedding then funeral (and apparently court appearances if Porridge is true to life), so I couldn't get worked up about a middle name sounding a little unusual. Both / either are perfectly nice names - it's not like one of you is wanting to call him Horatio or something.

Jack can be a nickname for Jonathan
In the same way as it could be a nickname for Jackson or Horatio or Daniel