Middle Names

[curlycat]

Just reading a couple of threads asking about middle names and I was just pondering why some people want a middle name at all if it doesn't mean anything.
Obviously your DC names have nothing to do with me and there is no right or wrong and my 2 do have a middle name but are after family members

By “don’t mean anything” do you mean “not named after a family member”?

Why would that make the name meaningless? Anymore that their first name is meaningless.

As for why have a middle name, it gives them another option if they don’t like their first name, it helps distinguish between individuals on things like medical files eg Susan Jane Scales and Susan Emma Scales.

Or finally, just because I liked the names and thought they sounded nice.

I think as pp said it gives them another option if they don't like their first name.

I was looking at Ancestry and so many of my old relatives went by their middle names back then. I didn't realize this until I looked them up.

When I was at school (1980's) there were lots of kids then who didn't have a middle name, but now it seems rare for a baby to not be given one.

My eldest two have middle names after family, but the younger two I chose just because I like the names.

What @LaundryScales said.

When my ds was in Primary school, there was a boy in the year above him and a boy in the year below him who both had the same first name and second name as him. His middle initial helped on things like clothing tags, but, more crucially, databases. We are on many databases in our lives, it is helpful to have things that distinguish us from the next person.

They are, of course, also useful to know when your parents are using their 'telling off' voices.

When I did my family tree, I was struck by how many of the men's and women's names were the same.
These same names carried down through the generations, until fairly recently, so I'm not surprised that middle names were a thing to differentiate one relative from another.
I think a middle name was added to accommodate a parent's chosen name preference rather than using only the honourary name.

I like the idea of middle names because, as others have said, it gives one a choice, which I myself have taken advantage of, that if someone doesn't like their first given name, they can use their middle name.

I also think it sounds nice especially as many people end up having the same first and last name and when it has to be read out for any reason, a name sounds flat if it's just two names, sounds much better when a middle name is included.