Respondents: 71 (This poll is closed)
Personally, I love two middles. Any more is too many and one is ok, but two is perfect for me. I love honoring family in the middle and even if you don’t like to honor family, the middle is where you can go a little crazy and use GP’s. I also just like the sound and flow of long names.
And I won’t lie - as a name nerd, it really does give me the most bang for my buck! Why just choose two when I can choose three and have a beautiful name? My son has two middles, both family names, and I have never, ever had an issue with it.
I prefer one middle name because two sounds like a list of names to me, but I don’t have a problem with parents who choose two middles. I don’t think it really causes the child any problems- they just use the first initial for their middle initial. I do think kids should get at least one middle; everyone I know without a middle name wants one, and it’s good to have another name to fall back on. More than two middles, though, is trying too hard and sounds ridiculous (I’m looking at you, [name]Uma[/name] [name]Thurman[/name].)
I prefer names with a meaning for both the first and middle, but especially in the middle. It’s a name that’s rarely used, so why pick it for fashion? It doesn’t have to be a family name necessarily, it can be a name picked for another reason, but I do think it’s better when the reason isn’t simply style.
In [name]England[/name] it’s quite normal to have two middles. It’s hard work, in my opinion they need to fit more than if you’ve only got one middle. I’m only doing two middles b/c my boyfriend’s family all have two middles, and he insisted.
I think its hard to get two middle names that follow with the first name and i think one middle name looks nicer. But sometimes 2 middle names work.
I have two middles, and love it. I have a few combos for future kids that have two middles, but I don’t go out of my way to do it.
If something comes to mind that I like, then I go for it. Otherwise, one is good enough.
[name]One[/name] of my middle is a family name, but none of my combos consist of family names. I don’t think you have to stick to the trend. I have two middles, and my brothers both have one.
I think two is the most, anything more is just pointless and excessive imo.
I think it depends on what the naming forms are like in [name]Canada[/name]. I think more than 1 middle name in the US is rather pointless as any official form you will fill out will only have 1 middle name option and even if you do middle name 1 SPACE middle name 2 you’ll likely run out of room unless you pick 2 very short ones. I guess I don’t really get the point. I know it’s traditional to give more than 1 middle name in a lot of cultures, but other than that I don’t see any advantage to it.
I have never understood two middles. Everyone I know (except one person) has one middle name. I don’t think it needs to be a family name (that’s totally up to the parents and their traditions), but personally, I prefer both names to have family significance. I can understand two middles if it’s a family tradition, but if you’re just tacking names on because you like them, it seems like you’re making the name about you and not about your son or daughter. [name]Just[/name] my opinion.
I’ve never had these issues at all.
1 middle - desirable
2 middles - doable
3 middles - too much
Middles come in many forms: names you like, honouring family, quirky guilty pleasures. Get as creative as you want.
My hubby’s family tradition is two middles and we stuck with it for my son. His first middle name was something that we loved, and the second middle name honored my hubby’s dad. I think it is fine. Never been a big deal for us.
My family only uses one middle. To me, since a middle name is extra already (people do just fine without them), adding a second one just feels really extra. IT also makes the names chosen seem less special. Part of choosing a name is the fact that you can’t choose all of them. Out of the thousands of names, this one name is the one we gave you. At the same time, those are the reasons why I will probably choose one middle for my children. My cousins have two middles that all honor family and it’s very nice. Their names are [name]LONG[/name], but very pretty and not pretentious if it honors someone.
I much prefer one middle. [name]Reading[/name] fn mn mn sounds lovely but reading fn mn mn ln together is a list.
I think if I choose a ‘normal’ name for first name (not necessarily a family name, but a conventional one), I’ll take more liberty with the middle, and vice versa- wacky first name (according to relatives i mean) will pro get a family middle.
I think one is always fine.
In my opinion, 2 is okay in some circumstances. If they aren’t too long and/or there’s some precedent in the family for using 2.
I do think it’s a little silly if everyone in your family has always been called [name]Mary[/name] [name]Jo[/name] [name]Smith[/name] to suddenly break out and name your child [name]Penelope[/name] [name]Seraphina[/name] [name]Yasmine[/name] [name]Smith[/name]. But then again, it’s a small thing and middles are used so rarely that no one but your kid will likely ever really care.
I choose 1 and 2 of whatever you like, plus other just to say that I too am not sure if all the other children have 1 middle name if it’s weird to then give another child 2 middle names.
Whatever makes you happiest.
My personal feeling is that as long as you genuinely care about/take into consideration the feelings of your future child about their name and balance that against your personal taste, then as someone else said, whatever makes you happy!
I would have loved to have two middle names, personally. And I’ve heard some wonderful three-middles choices! However, I do think it has to be done just right or it sounds like name salad - just a bunch of random words tossed together.
Example : [name]William[/name] [name]Michael[/name] [name]Frederick[/name] [name]James[/name], named for two dear grandpas and a special uncle, YES.
[name]Samantha[/name] Moonbeam [name]Penelope[/name] [name]Amaryllis[/name], just because, NO.
I like two middles - for our first son, we did all three names to honor family: the first after my great grandfather, the second after my father, and the third after my husband’s mother. That way, there were two names honoring each side of the family (once you count the last name as honoring his family, of course). The first two both have three syllables and the third has only one syllable - that keeps it from being excessively long, I think. With our next son, we’re still going to do two middle names so that his name matches his brothers, but aren’t as concerned with using family names.
I personally think that more than one middle name is kind of tacky, like you’re naming a pet or a doll or something. No offense to anyone who has a double middle, or has chosen one, I just think it’s rather unnecessary. I also never liked the idea of using family names (this might be because I’m not close to my family whatsoever), because I think I’d much rather have my own name than have to share with someone else.
I think that middles can be a place to get creative, whereas first names need to stay somewhat normal and pronounceable.