Can someone justify this to me, please? I just do not understand why this is a trend. I am just curious for those of you who have done this or plan on doing it, why? What is the reasoning?
I know some people want to use names with meaning and are trying to include grandparents, etc., but I think it would be a burden for a child to drag around an extra name (or more) his/her whole life. I have taken literally hundreds of scan-tron tests, filled out hundreds of forms and there is almost always one bubble for the middle initial. I think it would be problematic to constantly run out of room or bubbles on official forms and what not. It’s just not very functional [name]IMO[/name].
I have a friend who has a brother with three middle names. When he was old enough he legally changed it. I think I would hate it if my parents had done that to me.
Everyone has the right to name their children anything they want. I try to respect that decision and not judge, but I have a hard time with this one. It’s fun to name a baby. Naming my children was probably one of the funnest parts of pregnancy, but the kids have those names [name]FOREVER[/name] (unless they hate them enough to change it). I wanted my kids to have good strong names that weren’t too common, but not too unusual. Names that would fit from childhood to adulthood, that they wouldn’t have to spend the rest of their lives explaining or spelling for people. Names they could write with ease that would fit on a form.
I just want to know if there is anyone who has a double middle and what they think about it and if you used/plan to use a double middle, why?
I, too, believe that 1 middle is plenty… I think that some people give 2 middles just because they do want to honor someone or because they just love too many names and try to use them all:-) I think a fn, mn and ln is plenty…[name]How[/name] many names does one really need??
I think it’s alright to use 2 MNs but any more would be pushing it. My cousin has 2 names as her mum wanted to use her favourite name for a MN but then the initials spelt out a word, so my aunt added another. My cousin’s never had any trouble with it
I may use 2 MNs for my first born, one of which would be a family surname, because I like the idea of carrying on a name from the female line whilst still having a ‘normal’ MN like everyone else. It’s just an idea though and very much STC. I’ve heard people with double-barrelled surnames have a lot more issues???
I’ve filled out a fair few forms in my time and to me it always seems like they provide several ‘boxes’ to fill in middle initials. Maybe that’s location differences? UK/US? Anyhow, I can see that it would be annoying to have to drop a name/names because there’s not enough room. Though my main issue with form-filling is that my FN and LN together are usually too long to fit in anyway :rolleyes:
I don’t see it as a trend at all. People have been giving/given more than one middle name for centuries. In fact, there’s an Italian prince from centuries upon centuries ago with around at least 5/6 middles. It’s not a new fad, it’s just being more known/noticed.
People do it for many reasons, but it all boils down to one thing: Because they like it and want to.
Some do it to honor family (my mother’s guilty), some to make a combo flow better (guilty), some to facilitate a nickname (guilty), some as tradition, some to please family while fulfilling their own desires, and some because they love the names and can only see their daughter/son as that even if it is with two middles.
I have two middles, and it’s not has challenging as people like to make it out to be. Funny enough, it’s always people who don’t have two middles that complain about how challenging it must be. I’ve never heard of someone with two middles actually complain, or ever say they wish they only had one. I love it. It’s a tad more special, it’s less done, it’s uncommon, and it makes it 1000% impossible for me to ever share a name with anyone ever. My birth name is extremely unique, a quality that many people love to have their kids name.
I’ve never had an issue with forms. You just put in the first one if you can’t fit the second, post a note on the form or what have you if you need. On my health card it has just the first initial and I’ve never had an issue ever with anything legal/official because of having two middles. It’s my double-barrelled-hyphenated surname that causes the few issues I do have.
I have a two middles, I adore having two middles, and if I find the right combo and my DH is fine with it, then I’ll likely give my kids two middles. I personally would feel incomplete with out two middles, even though I can’t stand my first one. I’m thankful I have two, because at least I have one that I do like.
My mother gave me my second middle name after her aunt, it’s nice to have a connection to her, but honest isn’t worth it to me. I met her twice, once as a baby, and once at 16. I love her, but I don’t know her. Having her name didn’t make me know her anymore, or make me any more “special” to her. It was just a “OH, that’s right! [name]How[/name] lovely!” kind of thing, and life went on as if it never was. I don’t intend on using my kids to honor other family for that reason. I think it’s kind of silly, and if they grow to dislike said person or find out negative information, it’s not a good thing. Better to avoid it all.
I know things about other very important relatives, and I’m thankful I wasn’t named after them. It’d just feel wrong.
/ramble.
You don’t have to like double middles, but I promise you, our lives are just fine, and far from as problematic as you may feel.
My parents named my little brother [name]Leif[/name] [name]Griffon[/name] [name]Charles[/name] after our grandpa’s. And I wish I had two middle names! I think it’s cool and unusual. I will probably give all my kid’s two middle names.
I’m not sure why it’s a trend either but my theory is this: traditionally compound names were tied to Catholicism. Royalty and upper class, I get the feeling that for the most part the people who are just now jumping on the compound name wagon are striving to be like that because there’s a certain appeal to that lifestyle or people have whichever background and have been doing it for years but we never realized it until we saw the names on naming websites. IMO it’s sort of like how luxury brands filter down through society Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s are pretty common place instead of high class and reserved for a certain type of person anymore. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this it’s just my theory.
I used to think it was weird for people to use two middles without a cultural or religious significance but now I just think what they hay, who really cares. My only pet peeve is when people take nice names and create combos that are sort of ridiculous or don’t flow because imo they’re overwhelming, it looks like they’re trying to hard and the beauty of the individual names is lost. I do think some Berries come up with beautiful compound name combos!
My brother has two middle names after two deceased relatives. He has never had an issue, he is 25 yrs old. If there is only one spot for a middle initial he simply uses one.
When I have children I plan to give them two middles. It will be my way of “honoring” my brother. Not to mention, I get to use more names I love and honor more relatives.
When I get married (in less than a month!) I plan to move my maiden name to the second middle spot and take my fiances surname. So I will be L____ K_____ A_____ P_____. On forms and drivers licenses etc I will probably only be able to list my original/first middle name but that wont bother me at all.
Also, I do not think this is a trend. You see it on nameberry a lot because we all love names and its a way for us to use more of them, honor more people, etc. I don’t think the general public is doing this and it’s not a trend.
Like the others have said, I don’t think this is really a trend. Some people in my extended family have 2 middles, but my siblings and I all have 2. It’s never been a burden in any way, and I’ve always loved having 2 middle names. My parents did it because they were honouring people. As much as I love being [name]Allison[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Lorraine[/name], my hubby and I decided not to honour anyone when we named our 2 girls, so giving them 2 middles just wasn’t something that was important to us.
I have two middles and I only ever use the second unless asked for initials. I don’t see this as a problem. Everyone in my family has two middles and I’m so used to it that one middle name seems almost incomplete to me.
Oh I love this post! I’ve considered this many times, as I notice a lot of Berries do two middle names, and whenever I look at the British birth announcements the kids typically have multiple middle names. I adore looking at all of these combos,(people come up with some pretty fabulous names) but I don’t know if I’d actually ever do the same.
I actually don’t think it’d be much of an issue as far as legal forms go. If anything, it was the kids with the double last names or hyphenated last names that had issues. I recall my friend Mindy (who had a hyphenated last name) never knowing how to write her last name whenever we’d bubble in our information for tests.Space? No space?
I’ve definitely thought about if I should give my child two middle names or not. I don’t know if I will, but if I do, I’d only do it because I’d want my child to have a Vietnamese middle name.It’s important for my kids to know their heritage, especially as I don’t even know if I’d marry another Vietnamese person,and I’d love for them to learn Vietnamese from their grandparents and so on. Plus, since my children would have American names, it’d be a way to involve my parents in the naming process. Names are a very big deal to Vietnamese people, (seriously, it’s quite complex-you’ll have two names that will mean certain things separately , but when combined it’s a whole different meaning)and it’d be very sweet if one of their middle names was picked out by their grandparents.
It seems that a lot of Berries do the double middle name thing because they want to honor relatives or friends. That’s not as much of an issue for me as since I’m fully Vietnamese, all of my relatives have Vietnamese names. So that’s where there would be a potential second middle name I guess. Some people include their surname as their kid’s middle name, but mine is pretty common (Nguyen) so I’d love for my kids to have something a little more unique.
I’m not entirely opposed to double middle names, but I do think there is a point where it becomes a little over the top, that the parents are trying too hard.
We gave our son two middle names. The first middle name has a special meaning to hubby and I. It is a name we really loved, but was too strange to use as a first name. The second middle name is my FIL’s name.
I think a lot of this just has to do with where you live and your family and friends naming traditions. I know that it would stick out like a sore thumb in my family and half of my grandparents/aunts/siblings/friends would tell me it was ridiculous to my face. But if it was something that was common in my area or with my family then I can see the appeal. With just one middle name I feel like all my naming combinations end up leaving people out who I’d really like to honor.
It’s unfortunate that it would come off as so pretentious in my area/family because if it was something that was more accepted, I’d totally be on board!
I totally get what OP is saying. I like the idea of having multiple middle names–we are all berries here, after all, and we love names!
But, at least in the USA where I live, I feel like it would be somewhat problematic on forms. Like, are you ever actually using your legal name? I mean, I don’t know how much “legality” really matters. The law does not define us as individuals. If your parents name you [name]Arthur[/name] [name]Frederick[/name] [name]Walter[/name] [name]George[/name], then that’s your name, even if you can only fit “[name]Arthur[/name] F.” on a form.
But, I guess for simplicity’s sake, I will probably be restricting myself to only one middle name per child. I guess I’m just too “American” in that way. I’m afraid I might feel pretentious using more than one. I am not trying to judge anyone who DOES use more than one, I’m just saying how I might feel.
Although, I HAVE considered the flip side. I mean, why not? If the Brits can do it, why not us? I love hearing the long flowing names of royalty. Of course, they don’t have those pesky surnames hanging about to muddle up the rhythm!
I love 2 middles to be able to honour both sides of the family. My grandma is [name]Isobel[/name] [name]Anne[/name] [name]Mary[/name] [name]Margaret[/name] and had a hard to scottish last name.
Two middle names is a family tradition in my family. It can be traced back at least a few hundred years. That’s why I would give my children two middle names. I also grew up with two middle names and when it comes to official forms I just refuse to put down one middle initial and not the other so I don’t add either. It’s never really been a problem. (That said my last name isn’t very common in the US and when I google my first name last name combo I only find about three other people word wide with the same spelling - my first name is [name]Alexandra[/name] so it’s a fairly common name). I don’t know if it would a problem if my name were [name]Jane[/name] [name]Wilson[/name] instead - I’ve never really tried to figure that out before.
That said, what’s the reason to have any middle names? If you don’t like two, why do you like one? Why not just not give your children a first and last name and leave it at that?
To me it sounds like you’re just rattling off a list. It hardly ever works sound-wise, and I think the only reason would be if all of the names had a lot of sentimental value and you knew you were only having one kid. If a name sounds lacking with out two other names strung on, then maybe it isn’t a good name in the first place.
Interesting to hear from the people who have 2mn’s. Not as big of a deal to them as I would have thought. I still think it’s a trend in the US right now. I’m not sure if there are stats on it anywhere. I know that people have been doing it forever, but I have seen it more in recent years.
I do not think its problematic. More than 2 MNs may be too much though.