When did Rose become THE middle name?

[Sophcas7]

Rose itself is obviously a very old classic flower name which had its peak in the Victorian era but its use has a middle name seems to have only became ubiquitous in the last 25 years or so.

I was born in the 70s and in my generation most of our middle names were something along the lines of Ann, Elizabeth, Jane, Lynn. The rose middle name trend seems relatively newer to me.

I worked as a midwife in the early 2000s from 2001-2005 and I can’t even tell you how many parents chose “Emily Rose” and other popular names with Rose.

I’m not actually sure if it’s chosen as much any more because mae and grace seem to be getting a lot more common too and I may be wrong but I feel like the rose middle name trend was never popular before the 90s.

There will be a few exceptions obviously, I’m sure there were some considering rose is an old name but possibly just not as many as there have been the past 2 decades.

I know sooooo many from the 80's with Marie and Louise as a middle name.

I guess they fit the bill too, in terms of sound, but to me Rose always brings to mind a bunch of fabulous floppy-headed, fragrant old English roses - which I love!

The name wasn't popular 60 -70 years ago, @MsJJones . Some of them will have a Rose in their family tree, but probably not many.
I heard the same back in the 80s when it seemed that everyone had a grandmother called Louise.
Baby names since 1904: how has yours performed? - Office for National Statistics

If you look at the newly released ONS baby names, of the hyphenated names, -Rose seems by far the most popular.
Baby names in England and Wales: 2024 - Office for National Statistics

Rose might have been a grandmother's middle name, but middle names werent much of a thing until the middle of the 20th century, other than babies named after relatives (e.g. both grandmothers or both grandfathers)but known by a diminutive.

There were more with 0 middle names than with 2 middle names at my school.

yes, but they were a thing among nobility/royalty or some communities.

Princess Anne got married in 1973 and it was a big TV event then. One of her middle names is Louise so may have given the name a boost. People do like royal names. It's as though they confer some senior of approval.

The last 6 maternal generations in my family have had Rose/Rosemary /Rosalind or Rosamund as first or middle names. Paternal side there have been Ann(e) Nancy or Susan/Suzannes going back even further. I come from a long line of people with little imagination regarding naming their DC! 😊

I think it’s more to do with what it’s paired with. To me if I heard Emily Rose I’d assume she was born in the early 2000s, even though they are both classic names separately. Certain combos are very indicative of a specific time in naming, the Emily rose combo only became popular in the 90s before that middle names for emily were more likely to be Louise, Jane, Ann etc

similar to lily rose/ Lily Mae are very 2010 vibes even though they are technically old classics.

My grandmother, born around 1900, was called Clara Rose. It was a very popular middle name in Victorian/Edwardian times. I was born in 1957 and most of my peer group's middle names were either Jane or Ann. I wasn't given one at all.

@GoldenRosebee That would only have been a few in terms of the general population.

@SwedishEdith , I doubt that Princess Anne's third middle name being mentioned at her wedding would have sparked the huge trend.
Zara was considered a bit 'out there' when she was born, and took about 20 years to become popular.

@Sweatybettyinthisheat , I can believe that sort of reuse.

@Sophcas7 , it seems so dull. In my age group, you can guess the middle name from its initial, chances are you'll be right.

Louise isn't an out there name though.

Well, the name was given to the flower, and its meaning was Famous, or Royal, so it is thousands of years old, and has been used as a name in all that time, normans, greeks, romans, germanic tribes, etc, so I dont really think you can ask when it became a common name

@SwedishEdith , I didn't say it was.

@Lemniscate8 , @Sophcas7 was asking when it became common as a middle name. The thread is called "When did Rose become THE middle name?"

well, the earliest that I know of in my family is about 200 years ago.....

@Lemniscate8 OP was asking when did it start to seem like nearly every girl was given Rose as a middle name? That it was used in one family in 1825 (or thereabouts) doesn't answer the question.

If we had records for middle names in the same way as we do for first names, we'd probably be able to pinpoint it to some point around 1990.

Hadn't thought of that, but that's true.

My youngest dd has Rose for her middle name - it was a suggestion for her first name, and then when we went with something else, my eldest dd said Othername Rose is nice, and it stuck.

Promise my other kids have more original middle names 😉😂

I’m 43 and have Rose as a middle name. I was named after a great aunt though. I think it’s always been popular. Grace is another one that’s been popular for a long time.

Yes I see that too. I was born in the 90’s and have the middle name ‘Louise’, as do a lot of my friends.

My daughter born this year is a Charlotte Daisy 😊 We liked Rose but it seemed like everyone was using it!

In the late 1980s, a class register looked like
Surname1, Name1 Louise
Surname1, Name2 Louise
Surname2, Name3 Louise
Surname2, Name1 Louise
....

Rose, Grace, and May/Mae were unusual as middle names in my age group, and were considered old fashioned. There was the odd one or two, but not many.

Rae is very popular in the hyphenated names as is Ann/Anne.

My daughter’s middle name is Rose, she was born in 1988. When I named her, neither her first or middle names had been in the top 100 since the early 1900s and it definitely caused some comments. It’s a bit irritating how popular both have been starting around 5 years later but I take credit for starting the old lady name trend.

I don’t have a middle name because my Dad thought they were useless, but if I had, my mum said she would probably have used Rose - that was the 70s. Nobody I knew at school had Rose as a middle name. Most people’s were Anne, Jane or Louise. But loads of Rosemarys/Rosies must have been born around the 50s/60s if my now retired colleagues are anything to go by.

I don’t completely understand the dislike on here for Rose, May or Grace as middle names. I have a son called about the most popular name in history and I really don’t care, nor has anyone ever mentioned this.

It’s the Doctor Who effect.

Rose
Martha
Amelia
Clara

all became more popular after they appeared as companions

my mums middle name is Rose and she would be 89 now

my middle name is Rose and I’m in my 50s
I know several of my school friends have Rose as a middle name

first names tend to be quite classic Victoria Elizabeth Charlotte

I have a niece who is called Maggie Rose and another one called Francis Rose & a cousin called Elizabeth Rose

So Rose is definitely a popular middle name for me

It's my middle name and I was born in 1976.

My 25 yo dd has Rose as a middle-name. Named after her recently departed grandma.

DDs middle name is Rose, as is her four best friends. There’s also a girl in her class called Rose-(DDs first name) so I think the names just sort of go together. I think it’s just one of those names that works well as a middle name. We chose it because she’s got quite a long vowel heavy first name and it sounded good. As it happens it was my great grandmothers name, but I didn’t know that until after we’d named her!