How did you choose a middle name?

[JuliaGulia]

Hi,

I need a bit of help...

I'm really finding it hard to pick middle names! How did you decide?

We're expecting boy/girl twins in a couple of weeks so I've got to think of one of each asap.

I'm not sure whether to:

• name after a grand parent/family member (despite its un/popularity),
• name after a person of today I admire (so I can say you were named after this inspirational person)
• just pick something I like.

In reality middle names are rarely used but I don't want to miss an opportunity to make a statement.

Friends have recently chosen middle names after the father but after Kai Wayne Rooney I was sligtly put off! Others have picked names with a special meaning like places their babies were conceived etc but 'bedroom' is not on my wish list!

Just interested in your thought process really.

Thanks!

DS1 has a hebrew first name (DH Jewish) and a Welsh middle name (I'm Welsh). No particular meaning to it, just a name I liked that went well with first name.

DS2 has the middle name 'Che', after Che Guevara (and yes, I know his real name was Ernesto).

Personally I think you can be a bit frivolous with a middle name if you so fancy.

The beauty of mns is that they can be used to honour family members without having to use the names as first names.

sockmonkey, norman??

Gottit... Ajay?

DD!! Sorry to spoil your fun Bronwyn. Elvis would have been good though

DD1 - not entirely sure tbh. People seem to think it was because it was her birth month, but we'd chosen it when we expected her in April so not that...

DS - DH's granddad (and my dad but that was coincidental)

DD2 - My "auntie" (v old family friend) died just before DD2 was born. When I announced my pregnancy with DD1, my own grandmother was a bitch about it, but Auntie Jean was just lovely. It seemed fitting.

I want to know Knotty's DC's m/ns now!!

The Cub has 2 'middle' names, one because I liked it and the other after dp's fab uncle who made me feel v welcome into the family. He died a couple of months before The Cub was born.

ChooseWhatYouWantIt'sYourBabyTiggaxx

Each of my DC have 2 middle names apiece, after dead rellies, generally.

I don't like a couple of them. (Lee-urgh, Joan-eww) but it's to keep the olds sweet.

I ignored ex-DH's suggestion that ds1's middle names be "Osvaldo Ardiles". DS1, irritatingly since I know he would have hated this sort of trick played on him, now claims he'd have been cool with it. However, he ended up with Michael as a middle name. It being the name of two of my cousins, both being nice chaps.

ds2 ended up with two middle names:
Robert - my grandmother's husband who had died a year before ds2 was born.
George - his paternal grandfather who sadly didn't live to see ds2 grow up.

I was happy to pay tribute to close family but wouldn't have used any names I didn't like.

PS. Be thoughtful about allowing flights of fancy to influence the choice of middle names. You'd be surprised at just how many humiliating opportunities will arise throughout the school years. In fact, you never live a notorious middle name down.

Knew we were having twins but didn't know what sex until they arrived in 1997. They were delivered at 31 weeks, I was so terrified that they wouldn't survive I made DH agree names before we went to theatre. 2 x dd's would have been Anna and Grace, 2 x ds's would have been Owen and George. We had a very happy ending with Anna Grace Frances (Frances is my mum's name) and Owen George(family name) David (DH's, FIL's and brother's), now almost 13 and a happy/ frustrating mix of lovely and pubescent hideousness Seriously, thinking back to naming my guys, I really don't think folks stressed nearly so much about it back then (mumsnet hadn't happened!)your child's name will NOT define the kind of life they lead , My advise would be to choose a name for your baby that you love , a name that is not so unusual it will cause teasing, I think our kids have very "normal" names but there is not another Owen in his "prep school"
of about 280 kids

My mum, grandma and dh's grandma all had the same name - so that is dd's middle name.

Ds has the same middle name as dh's father.

So we chose them both from grandparent/great grandparent names, in other words.

I reckon a lot of people (e.g. my parents!) give their children the unusual name they daren't actually use as a first name, but would if they could.

If your chosen first names are fairly conventional, then I reckon this is a good approach.

I really like the person-you-admire approach too. I think it;s really nice to have a story to go with your name, and you can tell your child all about the person they're named after, and they may well feel an affinity with them. I'm named after an historic Welsh rebel figure, and I love the story that goes with it, and do feel an affinity with the story.

We broke with our family tradition and gave our DS the unusual name as his first name! His middle name is after his paternal grandfather and is a conventional name.

Lowrib, mine have unusual firstnames too. DSs 1st name is my father & GFs middle name, and third cousin's first name, and used to be the first part of our double-barreled name iyswim. So it is a real name, and a traditional family one, but I'm the first person for a century to have the guts to use it as a first name! DH is very understanding! Hence I allowed Lee as a middle name.

Ds' middle name is my brothers name and fil's name so thats why we had that, dd's middle name is my middle name and also the name of the lovley midwife who dilivered her.

DH wanted a name I wanted another (we both liked both names)so we kept both.

DS's middle name is the same middle name as his dad - all the first born sons have had the same middle name for at least 5 generations. If we have a girl next I want the name that is both my mum's and my grandma's middle name. I like the idea of giving children first names that you just like (so they have something of their own), and middle names that give them a bit of family history.