middle names

[richfinch]

why do most of us have middle names when no one hardly ever uses them??

[aurelia]

In Scotland the old tradition was to give your child whether boy or girl the mother's maiden name as a middle name. my mum's middle name is Stewart and I am so glad she did not carry on the trend but gave me her first name instead has REEKIE would ave been horrific in the middle of my name. My dad's side were originally of Irish extraction so his middle name is BRADLEY and this was my grandad's middle name and y great-grandad's too. Not too sure where the french came into the mix as well.

[gen2]

I thought middle names were a bit like computer backups - there to be used in case something happened to the first one. I know a number of ABers do that when their first name gets banned for any reason. Doesn't the same thing happen in the 'real world'? It's a long time since I was there and cannot remember !

[dzug]

So a child knows when he's really in trouble - when s/he's addressed by his full name.

[catlavender]

Having worked in the public sector with personal records I must say that middle names can come in useful when trying to decide whether or not you have the correct person. Especially in cases such as John Smith. I don't have a middle name and when I was younger I wanted one so badly (because everybody else did) that I made up 3. My friend believed me until a couple of years ago when I owned up. I still wish I had a middle name and would give them to my children.

[clairey-s]

Well i dont have a middle name, 'cause my dad didnt. and he didnt have one because nan said they never get used anyway, and if you like a name you should use it first!
xx

[simsfreq]

I know somene with 4 middle names! He didn't like the one he had first so he just chose the one he wanted to be called. I think it's quite nice - giving someone an element of choice.

[zebra]

I have two middle names one zimbabwean (my dad) one irish (my mom) and my christian name is a name both my parents liked.

[spurslady]

I love my middle name, It's Lisa after my Aunt, because I was born on the day she was christened and exactly 10 years 10 days after she was. She asked my parents if they would name me after her.

I love it even more now as she tragically died aged 27, 10 years ago the age I am now. If I had of had a daughter she would have had it too. I dont think it would suit my sons, but they have middle names that are from other peoples middle names in my family.

Its a lot nicer then my first name which is one of those irritating ones you forever have to spell and pronounce

[ainitatyb]

Despite the history and tradition there is sometimes a very practical reason for middle names. With my own children I did not want to have them baptised until they could choose their own name. This of course caused problems with the family who insisted on having the children baptised. My reasoning was that they should have the name that they felt happy with (I hated my christian name as a child) and have a name they could pronounce (I could never pronounce my r's and having a name with r's in made me very unhappy as a child). If the children grew up with some speech impediment or lisp they had the chance to use their alternative names until they could decide if they wanted to change it formally. The compromise was to give them two 'safe' names so that they could decide the preference later and to overcome the family pressure.

[andy-hughes]

Actually Bohne, my two older daughters are from my wife's first marriage, so they didn;t have my surname to begin with, and both have married, so they dont; have their mum's previous name either!

The chances of our youngest - who is named Hughes - keeping it are pretty slim I;' say, but you never know ....