I’ve realized I have middle name fatigue. I’m a double middle person myself (think [name_f]Forsythia[/name_f] [name_u]June[/name_u] [name_f]Pearl[/name_f] and [name_u]Timothy[/name_u] [name_m]John[/name_m] [name_m]Grayling[/name_m] and you’re on the right track), but lately I’ve begun to wonder if it might not make sense to just choose the first name for the child and not fuss as much about the middle(s) or nicks.
Easy for me to say, right, because I’m not naming actual babies.
I’ve just noticed a certain number of threads where people are considering scrapping beloved first names because of the middles or last names not working well enough with them or with nickname worry.
Increasingly to me, the first name is IT. Can’t do much about the last name (usually) or the nickname potentials (ever), but the first is what they will likely hear the rest of their lives. Had my unborn babies gotten to be born, [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] might have embraced [name_u]Cory[/name_u] (God help me, sorry Corys out there) or [name_u]Owen[/name_u] might be going by O-Man (I mean, who knows).
I’ve decided to poll all my friends and relatives and ask if they know my middle name. Other than close relatives and a few old friends, I bet no one knows. Anyway, I’ll post my highly unscientific results when I get them.
I’m looking forward to hearing the results of your scientific study!
As someone with two middle names, I’m also sad because I never even have space for my second middle on anything, and a lot of forms don’t even let you put two middle initials, or two middles. All of that has made me less concerned about middle names
We actually chose my oldest’s middle name before her first name, so then I took all names starting with A off my list, or her initials would have been AXE. (not really bad, just I thought it was weird). [name_f]My[/name_f] husband, who is Mexican and they speak an indigenous language in his family, wanted to name her [name_f]Xochitl[/name_f]. Since we are living in the US, I suggested we find a first name that was easier for [name_f]English[/name_f] speaking people to say and read.
Kiana’s middle name, [name_f]Rosalie[/name_f], is just a name that I liked and suggested to my husband. I also wanted to avoid another name that ended with -a because our last name also ends with -a.
For this baby, I had a few first names that my husband and I both liked, and made combos with different middle names (Victoria, for my husband [name_m]Victor[/name_m] and [name_f]Belén[/name_f], Spanish for Bethlehem). I didn’t want to use [name_f]Belén[/name_f] as a first name because accent marks are not used in the US, so I felt [name_f]English[/name_f] speaking people would read [name_f]Belen[/name_f] as rhyming with [name_f]Helen[/name_f]. [name_f]My[/name_f] husband suggested [name_f]Magali[/name_f] [name_f]Belén[/name_f], which I had not put together on the list, but that’s what we are going with.
I know a lot of people use middle names to honor family, but our kids are not named after anyone. Unintentionally, but as an added bonus, one of the meanings of [name_f]Magali[/name_f] is [name_f]Pearl[/name_f], which was my mom’s birth stone. She passed away unexpectedly in [name_u]August[/name_u].
This is very much how I feel about my favourite. I love helping other berries make combos, but my own favourites are all just single, uncomboed names.
If I got to choose the first and middle names for a child, I would just choose two of my favourite names. Obviously making sure the initials weren’t horrible or the sounds weren’t ridiculous, but flow and combos isn’t my most important goal.
More then likely, choosing a first and middle will be a compromise between my SO and I anyway, so even if I make combos now the chance of using that exact combo is low.
As far as nicknames, I’m on the fence about this one. My name has a nickname that I don’t enjoy at all, but I’ve never been called that. And I love my full name.
One of my favourite names has an obvious nickname I dislike/find very dull. I can’t decide if it would be worth it to just use that name anyway, or rather choose a different favourite before that name.
