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Original poster

Aren't there enough girls with Grace and May and Rose as middle names?! Can we stop now?

252 replies

lowrib · 04/08/2009 02:44

A personal bug bear ...

Did I miss a law being passed that every family with a girl must use one of these as a middle name?

I mean they're pretty names, sure, but it's getting boring now!

Use your imagination people!!

When I was little all my mates had Louise as their middle name, these names are the Louise of the moment I reckon.

Rant over. As you were

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MamaLazarou · 10/08/2009 18:22

I've never heard of a baby May or Mae... not in recent years, anyway. Are there any Mays under the age of 50?

It's interesting how people who love the name or have an emotional attachment to it only seem to choose it as a middle name.

(Not meant to be inflammatory in any way - just an observation. Please do correct me if you have a baby May)

ladylush · 10/08/2009 21:54

My neighbour has a Mae (first name). I would have chosen Rose as a first name but I wanted a two syllable name to go with our surname.

lockets · 10/08/2009 22:01

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AitchTwoOh · 10/08/2009 22:51

i know one, she's nine. good kid, named after her great grandmother.

jauntinthesurf · 11/08/2009 01:33

I know plenty with first name Grace. I haven't met any children called Rose or May.

MamaLazarou · 11/08/2009 08:42

How interesting, I clearly just don't know enough small children.

cthea · 11/08/2009 10:05

I know a few called Grace who are DS's age (9). No first name Roses or May/e, I think that's a more recent trend.

Fimbo · 11/08/2009 10:16

Myself, my dd and my cousin all have the same middle name, which is Helen after my mum.

Ds's is Duncan - which is another that is loathed on here.

lockets · 11/08/2009 12:08

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AitchTwoOh · 11/08/2009 12:18

i like the name duncan. i know a rosa and a grace and a mae, come to think of it.

Fimbo · 11/08/2009 12:26

Lockets - usually someone has an opinion on it and never good! [wry]

AitchTwoOh · 11/08/2009 12:31

ahem. i have an opinion on it, it's a lovely name. very scottish and proud.

Fimbo · 11/08/2009 12:34

Sorry I should have said with the exception of Aitch.

Scottish and proud - that's me. Ds was born in England though....

AitchTwoOh · 11/08/2009 12:40

i know anothe duncan on mn, you should form a gang.

dizzydixies · 11/08/2009 13:48

am rather fond of Duncan too

LuvLee · 12/08/2009 16:23

Don't see the problem to be honest. What I can't stand are the very common first names that have been in use for years:

Harry
Charlie
Sam
Ryan
Rhys
Jack
Lauren
Megan

the list goes on!!

Verity79 · 14/08/2009 11:35

DD1 is Lilith Louise (Louise is my middle name and DH loves it)

DD2 is Alethea Ivy (Ivy was DH's grandma)

DD3 will be Callia Seren (Seren is Welsh for star and my mum's family is Welsh).

I do really like Grace, May, and Rose and my grandma was Lydia May (went by May) but as I had no love for her I wouldn't name any of my children after her no matter that I love the name itself.

pinkthechaffinch · 15/08/2009 13:09

DS (7) is Lyndon Christopher
DD (6 months) is Polly Julia

I love my kids unusual names!

mathanxiety · 17/08/2009 03:43

You couldn't throw a brick in my neck of the woods without hitting a girl with Marie as a middle name. Seriously, hundreds of them. You have to be careful with the first name Isabella, though, when picking a middle name, and also in combo with the surname. I know an Isabella Rose -- it always sounds like a question. Also an Isabella who didn't change her name when she married purely because she would have been Isabella Flagg. She didn't think so.

MotheringHeights · 17/08/2009 04:03

My middle name is Marie. So is my mother's, and her mother's and her mother's. All pronounced Marry rather than Maree.

Stunning lack of originality, I know. Quite a nice link from one generation to the next, though.

MamaLazarou · 17/08/2009 08:26

What's wrong with Duncan? I quite like it - maybe because of hunky Duncan James from Blue (who I have a soft spot for because he looks like my DH).

Perhaps people have connotations of Peter Duncan from Blue Peter, or Duncan the dragon from You and Me (showing my age now).

simplesusan · 17/08/2009 11:22

I don't see the problem tbh.
I think "common" for want of a better word middle names are that because the child is probably named after a relative. So there are probably a lot of Mays because there would have been a lot of grandmothers with May as either a first or middle name.

In say 10 years time the fashion for middle names will move to whatever grandmothers/grandfathers of the time are called. So we might get an influx of Janets or Barbaras who knows.

The other thing is it is far better for a middle name to "flow" with both first and surnames and plain, one syllabol names tend to do that more.
My middle name is Jane btw and I love it! my dds middle name is Jane and she loves it too. In fact she was saying last night that she would have loved to have been called Jane as her first name.

nafsubola · 01/03/2021 02:54

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cassrose · 01/03/2021 08:27

I hate these posts. So unnecessary. You have no idea of people's lives. My daughter will have the middle name Rose. It's extremely important to me since it was my Nana's middle name whom I adored as a child and died when I was 12. It is also my middle name. I will be passing that history to my child.

VanillaAndOrange · 01/03/2021 08:41

I realise this is an old thread but it is still interesting.

Someone wrote upthread, I don't actually see the point of middle names at all unless it is to honour family members or say different parental nationalities/cultures. The child's first name should be good enough, as that is what he/she will be called.

I disagree. Not everybody is called by their first name, either from birth because that's what the parents intended (say Mr and Mrs Davis wanted to use Michael Andrew but didn't want the initials MAD, so they made it Andrew Michael but still called him Michael), or because the person themself decided they preferred their middle name later in life. My parents always said the point of middle names and also of choosing versatile names with several shortenings was to give their owner more choices. I have two such "versatile" names (something along the lines of Alexandra Margaret) - my brother's first name is unshortenable and was quite unusual back then, but they deliberately gave him a very versatile middle name so he still had choices (something along the lines of Finn Robert). Also, some people just like/are interested in names (as the existence of this folder proves), and have a long enough list of favourites that they appreciate being able to give their children more than one.

As for Rose, Grace and May... they are individually attractive names, and a shorter middle name works well to balance some longer first names (I would say especially if the stress on the first name goes di-DUM-di, for example Rebecca Grace - it just flows well). Maybe there has been a reaction against using the previously popular Anne and Jane as middle names because they were so popular in an earlier generation. These things go around. I do like it when people come up with an unusual middle name that flows nicely with the first name, but the most important thing surely is that the parents like both and there's nothing there that will be actively embarrassing for the child (don't call her Rebecca Poo!)