A lot of Berries are against “filler” middle names. I’ve always thought that the definition of a filler middle name is putting in a random name just for the sake of the child having a middle name, a name without meaning. But what if someone really liked the sound of, say, [name]Marie[/name] or [name]Grace[/name] and weren’t using it just for the sake of using something, they were using it because they loved the name and how the combo sounded? Is that still filler… and frowned upon? [name]Just[/name] a hypothetical question at this point. And if a filler middle name is indeed a randomly chosen name, couldn’t any name be filler even if it was practically unheard of?
For me, people who use names like [name]Grace[/name], [name]Marie[/name], [name]Rose[/name], etc just because they need/want a middle name and can’t of anything better… well, that would be a “filler” name. Someone who used the names [name]Grace[/name], [name]Marie[/name], [name]Rose[/name], etc because they truly loved the name, were honoring someone, etc - then that would be a legitimate middle name. The trouble is, because those names are so overly-done as middles, a lot of people are probably going to assume they are “fillers” anyway - even if they aren’t.
I’m concerned that [name]June[/name] and [name]Pearl[/name] will become the next mn fillers. Which is a shame, because they are both fabulous.
I’d say unless the name has some personal significance or history to it [i.e. you picked the name [name]Marie[/name] because you want to honor your grandmother who had that name or something], it’s a filler name. Filler names are picked because they sound nice, they end up being used as connectors between the first and last name to make it flow better, they aren’t chosen for their meaning.
And you are right, technically any name could be a filler name if it’s just stuck in there without any thought beyond how it sounds.
Personally, I see the middle name slot as the perfect opportunity to individualize what might otherwise be a fairly generic name, and you don’t tend to get that if you use a filler MN.
Let me explain further what I mean…
[name]Sophia[/name] is the name of the moment, and not that it matters, but a young [name]Sophia[/name] born today is likely to come across other Sophias at school/in other walks of life. The chances are, a [name]Sophia[/name] [name]Rose[/name]/[name]Grace[/name] could well come across another [name]Sophia[/name] [name]Rose[/name]/[name]Grace[/name], but a [name]Sophia[/name] [name]Thomasine[/name] (just the first name that came into my head!) is much, much, much less likely to do so, and that rarer middle name helps set the name apart from the other Sophias.
I know middle names aren’t used a lot, but I still think it’s nice to “liven up” a popular first name, with a more exotic/rarer middle name.
Fillers don’t bother me as much if the first name itself is quite exotic/rare.
For me, the definition goes beyond just a name randomly thrown between the first name and surname. In a sense, I can’t help but think the typical filler names like [name]Marie[/name], [name]Rose[/name] and [name]Grace[/name] (and to a lesser extent, [name]May[/name]) were just names that are “short and sweet” that any given parents didn’t necessarily like that much (neutral to at best), but threw in because they couldn’t think of anything else. In short, they may not have [name]Marie[/name] on their “favorite names” list, but put it on a child’s birth certificate because, well… they had to put SOMETHING.
Yeah, I’d agree that a filler name is a middle name chosen simply because the parents couldn’t think of another name to put there. I hate the fact that [name]Grace[/name] is known as a filler, though, because I really like it in both the first and middle spots.