How did you choose middle name?

General Name Discussion
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How did you choose your kids middle name? I believe that middle names are usually not taken seriously enough. I would love to hear the stories behind your kids middle names. Are they named after someone? Did the first name change because of the middle?

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I’m not a parent, but I like to tell the story behind my middle name. It’s one of those names that’s often considered a filler name. [name_f]My[/name_f] parents both loved it and when they found out I was a girl, just decided to use it, regardless of my first name (probably). I share my middle name with multiple people I know and know of but personally I feel like it gives me a sort of connection, even to strangers.

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I chose a first name out of our list and he chose the middle name,that’s how both of our children got their name

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[name_f]My[/name_f] son’s middle is my dad’s name - he passed away years ago and I wanted to honour him. [name_f]My[/name_f] daughter’s middle is after my dad’s birth month - I liked the idea of celebrating his life by way of his entrance into the world.

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I have four sons, these are the stories behind their middle names:

  • Emmanuel is a family name on his father’s side. I also love the meaning “God is with us”. We’re practicing Catholics and my faith has kept me going in some very difficult situations, so it felt only right to honor that in my son’s name. It also has the Christmas association, and that’s my favorite religious holiday.

  • HĂșni is an Icelandic boys name. I’m half Icelandic, lived there for the first 10 years of my life, so this is honoring my heritage. It means “bear cub” which I think is cute and beautiful, and it links my second son’s name to that of the oldest, whose first name means “deer”

  • Pythagoras is a name my SO wanted to use. He’s a maths geek and loves everything to do with Ancient Greece. I was against it at first, but then I started to love it. It still makes me happy every time I say it out loud. Most people probably think it’s completely over the top, but I haven’t regretted it for a second

  • Zakynthos is after the Greek island. It’s a very meaningful place for myself and my twin brother, who I love with all my heart.

I don’t think I’d change a first name because of the middle, but I do agree that middle names are very important. I’ve put as much thought into them as I did with my sons’ first names and they are just as meaningful.

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[name_f]My[/name_f] son’s middle name is [name_m]Leo[/name_m] after my mum as she was my rock during my hard pregnancy and his 3 week nicu stay. And because of the lion association and the fight he had inside of him. It’s really special to me :heart:

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For my first daughter, my husband wanted to use the name [name_f]Xochitl[/name_f], which is the word “flower” in a language his family speaks. Since we are living in the US and I knew no one would be able to pronounce or spell it, I said we could use it for her middle name. We chose [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] as her first name.

For my second daughter, we had agreed on [name_f]Kiana[/name_f] for her first name. I wanted a middle name that did not also end with an -a, since our last name also ends with -a. I suggested [name_f]Rosalie[/name_f], and my husband agreed.

For this baby, I had about 4 first/middle name combos written down with names my husband said he liked. One combo that wasn’t on the list, but my husband suggested was “Magali BelĂ©n”. That will be our third daughter’s name, due [name_u]August[/name_u] 4.

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This is a lovely question!

We have always decided first names before middle names, and I wouldn’t not use my favourite first in order to use a different middle, but I still think middle names are important and I love all of the ones we chose for our children.

[name_f]My[/name_f] eldest daughter’s middle name is [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], for the strong, intelligent [name_m]Roald[/name_m] Dahl character (my favourite book and character as a child) as well as for the amazing meaning. It’s a longtime favourite of mine but we preferred it for the middle slot because we’re not big fans of [name_u]Mattie[/name_u] or [name_f]Tilly[/name_f], which seem the most likely nicknames.

[name_f]My[/name_f] son’s middle is [name_u]Valentine[/name_u], named for my grandmother [name_f]Valerie[/name_f] [name_f]Irene[/name_f], who passed away during my pregnancy with him. Another beautiful name with a strong meaning. And we found out later that St Valentine’s [name_u]Day[/name_u] was originally the feast day of the goddess [name_f]Juno[/name_f], which is his big sister’s first name – quite a cool coincidence!

And my youngest daughter’s middle is [name_f]Helena[/name_f], which we also loved for a first with the nickname [name_f]Nell[/name_f]. I had half-hoped we might still be able to use [name_f]Nell[/name_f] as a nickname even with it as her middle name, but it just hasn’t stuck. I think [name_f]Helena[/name_f] is such a beautiful underused classic and it was among both of our mothers’ favourite girl names during their pregnancies with us.

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[name_f]My[/name_f] twins’ middles names are after their grandpas. Since we were having two boys it felt perfect to be able to honor both of them at the same time.
Wanting to honor the grandmas this time but only having one baby and it’s going to be a bit harder to do if it’s another boy. :thinking:

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Middles names have always felt very important to me. I love meaningful names, and it’s a chance to slot in the meaningful or honour names without worrying so much about impressions.

I used to LOVE looking up name meanings as a kid and always thought my kids would have names with lovely meanings, but as it’s turned out, none of their literal meanings (fn or mn) are really that special to me, no meanings like life, truth, healer, wisdom, happiness
 fn’s have had to be compromised with partner, had to sound bearable with his surname, and have ended up being ones we’ve just loved the sound of or have been meaningful for other reasons.

mn’s I’ve absolutely had free reign on, because partner doesn’t think they matter at all (yay!). But because we’ve gone with his surname, I’ve felt the need for midddles to honour my own family heritage more than to just be ones I like the meaning of.

My daughter’s mn is Joanne. I had it picked out years before she was conceived, before I’d even met my partner. Originally I loved it with the first name Felicity, but that would sound hideous with our surname. While Joanne is not an exciting sounding name, it has the letters in order to honour a very special grandmother and great-grandmother, who had Jane and Joan in their names, as well as having the same root/meaning as my father’s name, John. I originally wanted to spell it Johanne for that reason, but people were finding it too confusing. My Dad never got to meet his grandchildren.

My son’s middle name is Owen, from a surname honouring some of my family’s English/Welsh heritage. We considered it as a first, but in the end partner wasn’t that fond. And there’s something about the actor Owen Wilson that really irritates me, somehow having it as the first name makes that association feel worse! I love the sound and feel of the name, though I do wonder if I should have honoured a specific person rather than a ‘lineage’, because it’s not like I personally knew most of that family line and I’m sure some of them I mightn’t have liked! But still, it honours my boy’s ancestors and their journey, and hopefully provides him a sense of being grounded, of belonging.

Something about what you said here makes me want to go back in time and name my kids with my biggest GP names! I love that you’ve got such meaningful, bold choices for your children.

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We chose honour middle names for our children. [name_f]My[/name_f] son has both my grandfather and my husbands grandfather’s names as his middles, [name_m]Morris[/name_m] & [name_u]Clarke[/name_u]

[name_f]My[/name_f] daughter’s middle name is [name_f]Rosemary[/name_f] after my husband’s mother who passed when he was young.

I have nieces who have amazing word middle names: [name_f]Eve[/name_f] [name_f]Sapphire[/name_f] & [name_u]Teagan[/name_u] [name_u]Rae[/name_u] [name_f]Sunshine[/name_f]

I just love them!

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[name_f]My[/name_f] older brother’s middle name is after my father’s brother, who is also his godfather.
[name_f]My[/name_f] own middle name is after my mother’s sister, who would have been my godmother but she’s Protestant and I’m Catholic.
[name_f]My[/name_f] younger brother’s middle name is after my mother’s best friend’s husband, I’m not sure which one of them is his godparent but I assume at least one if not both.

For the longest time I assumed I’d follow this approach when naming my own children but now I’m not so sure any more they’ll have godparents, or at least not until they’re old enough to pick them on their own. I’m still very determined to use direct family honor names though, to be honest I wouldn’t even know where else to start looking.

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I don’t have any kids, yet. But this is what I’m planning on using as mns for them:

[name_m]Ralph[/name_m]: this man, who was always part of this family, has done amazing things for my family, and back in the day, he fought for equal rights for spanish teachers.

[name_u]Theo[/name_u]: my great grandfather on my mom side, I never got to met him, but he was a hard working man, from what I was told. He was a hard working man, who would give homeless people blankets, and give them resources to get them back on their feet.

[name_f]Vanessa[/name_f]: my late cousin, who was a very adventurous, and spontaneous person. She backpacked across [name_f]Asia[/name_f], until she taught in Cambodia in her final days of living.

[name_f]Rose[/name_f] variants: [name_f]Rose[/name_f] is a family name, which is from my mom’s biological grandmother named [name_f]Rose[/name_f] [name_f]Mary[/name_f], and my mn. I think that would be really sweet.

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My children are unborn, but their names were still chosen.

Owen Michael Russell —Michael because it is my husband’s name and he stood by me during all the hard times.

Cordelia Elizabeth Marjorie — Elizabeth I had always loved (big Elizabeth 1 fan since 6th grade) and it sounded good to me between Cordelia and Marjorie, Marjorie being my late Nana’s name. If I had it to do again, I would have named her middle Sandra, after my mother who just passed.

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Sorry to hear about your mother, @Harvest-Endellion. [name_f]Sandra[/name_f] is a lovely name :heart:

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Thank you so much, [name_f]Katinka[/name_f]. Nameberry has really helped me through, both the fun/interest of it and the kindess of the people. :heart:

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