[name_m]How[/name_m] many names can you give a child before it gets to be too many?
[name_f]My[/name_f] [name_f]MIL[/name_f] started babysitting a little boy who’s name is [name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Clayton[/name_m] [name_u]Dean[/name_u] [name_m]Charles[/name_m] II. His mom calls him [name_m]Junior[/name_m], his dad calls him [name_u]Charlie[/name_u] and everyone else calls him either [name_u]Billy[/name_u]/[name_m]Bill[/name_m] or [name_m]Charles[/name_m] and one special family member who calls him [name_u]Francis[/name_u] just because he has so many names already what’s an extra one? Essentially this kid will spend at least a year or so answering to four different names.
I’m wondering if he would start favoring one name over the other even before a year or so and if it will make it harder for him to decide what his name actually is.
Thanks for the input!
For the purpose of anagramming names, I find that four is too many. 
Well, I’m in a similar situation with my daughter Her first name is [name_f]Karin[/name_f] which is not easily pronounced in the United States. She has two middle names. But, since [name_f]Karin[/name_f] isn’t accessible in the States, she goes by several nicknames. She goes by [name_u]Boo[/name_u] at home, K to my friends and acquaintances, [name_f]Karen[/name_f] at daycare, and [name_f]Karin[/name_f] by certain other people in my life. The first year, I honestly don’t think she responded to them, but now she responds to them all!
Gipro2003 is karin said as kerran? (Care-un) x
[name_f]My[/name_f] 2 have 2 middle names no more i think it would be different if they went well together and were short ones perhaps but those seem too long for me well dean is the best lol 4 letters!! poor moose on the filling forms !!
I’m curious as to how this is unpronounceable in American, lol. I’m a [name_f]Karen[/name_f] (KAH-r’n) and they do sort of warp my name so that it sounds like the word ‘care’. Is that the kind of thing you mean?
[name_f]My[/name_f] daughter has 3. A first & 2 middles. I considered throwing a 4th into the mix, but Nameberry convinced me not to! I remember one comment that said this practice was “only for royals” so I didn’t want to seem like I was trying to be overly fancy. [name_f]My[/name_f] daughter has a first name that’s all her own and 2 middles that honor someone special on each side of her family, that 4th name was another honor name. I wanted to use it cause I thought I was going to only want one child so I thought it was my only chance to honor my aunt.
Or maybe it’s kuh-[name_f]RIN[/name_f]? I also want to know how it’s said that it’s impossible over here O_o
But I think 2 middles is enough. I wouldn’t (though I’ve thought about it 
) go over 2 middles.
Two middles is more than enough for me, sometimes it’s actually bordering on being a bit much if long names are used - any more than three names is only acceptable for royalty.
As for [name_f]Karin[/name_f], in Denmark were it’s fairly common though slightly dated, we pronounce it KAH-rinn.
I guess depending on how you look at it I have either two first names or two middles, my mother has always considered my first name to be Lizalee though my father had never accepted that idea so my names are [name_f]Liza[/name_f] [name_u]Lee[/name_u], up until I was in high school I went by both of them as my first name in school and sports and stuff with just [name_f]Liza[/name_f] being a nick name and [name_f]Liz[/name_f] being an even shorter one now it’s just easier that I go by [name_f]Liza[/name_f] as my first/nickname if I get [name_f]Liza[/name_f] [name_u]Lee[/name_u] off my mother it gets my attention but if I get [name_f]Liza[/name_f] [name_u]Lee[/name_u] [name_f]Mary[/name_f] I know I’m in trouble lol
Also [name_f]Liza[/name_f] is pronounced as [name_f]Liz[/name_f]-ah rather than lie-za
So almost identical to [name_f]Karen[/name_f] then, hmm. I wonder why that’s impossible for Americans?
The same reason the British (and many others) often spell [name_m]Jeffrey[/name_m] as [name_m]Geoffrey[/name_m]. Regional dialect and a different culture change names. That’s why Yehusa isn’t as popular as [name_m]Joshua[/name_m] in the Western world, because names evolve.
P.S.- it’s not ‘impossible’ for American’s to pronounce a name differently from how it is pronounced regionally, just as it’s possible to pronounce a [name_f]Hannah[/name_f] as Hah-nah, just take a second to say “Oh, it’s actually pronounced ______.” [name_m]Lord[/name_m] knows here in the US there are so many different spellings and pronounciations, it’s always hit or miss. If I got angry every time my name was misspelled I’d be grumpy constantly. Hey, maybe that’s why so many Americans are so grumpy all the time.
Personally, more than 3 (1 fn, 2 middles/2 fn’s 1 middle) would be too much. However, I was looking through some lists of actual names given in the UK on British [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Names, and these were the longest I found:
[name_f]Herminia[/name_f] [name_f]Martha[/name_f] Jesusa [name_f]Romana[/name_f] [name_f]Macaria[/name_f] [name_f]Angela[/name_f]
[name_m]Clement[/name_m] [name_u]Willoughby[/name_u] [name_f]Frances[/name_f] StGeorge
[name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Anthony[/name_m] [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] [name_m]Herbert[/name_m] Fortescue
[name_f]Henrietta[/name_f] [name_f]Georgina[/name_f] [name_f]Alexandra[/name_f] [name_f]Florence[/name_f] [name_f]Millicent[/name_f] [name_m]Feodore[/name_m]
[name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Hodges[/name_m] Garibaldi [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] [name_m]Victor[/name_m] [name_m]Albert[/name_m] [name_m]Reginald[/name_m]
[name_f]Alice[/name_f] [name_f]Alexandra[/name_f] [name_f]Beatrice[/name_f] [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Magdalene[/name_f] [name_f]Eugenie[/name_f] [name_f]Victoria[/name_f]
Chrysidus [name_m]Adelbert[/name_m] [name_m]Isadore[/name_m] [name_m]Cyrus[/name_m] De’[name_f]Lys[/name_f]
[name_u]Jules[/name_u] [name_m]Augustin[/name_m] [name_m]John[/name_m] Baptist [name_m]Gustave[/name_m] [name_m]Edward[/name_m] [name_m]Andrew[/name_m]
[name_f]Holly[/name_f] [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] [name_f]Hester[/name_f] [name_f]Caroline[/name_f]
[name_f]Amy[/name_f] [name_f]Hannah[/name_f] [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]Margaretta[/name_f] [name_f]Beatrice[/name_f] [name_f]Amelia[/name_f]
Marchmont [name_u]Murray[/name_u] [name_m]Reginald[/name_m] Grasett Stanhope Plantagenet
[name_m]Ernest[/name_m] [name_m]Melchior[/name_m] [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] [name_u]Francis[/name_u] [name_m]Giovanni[/name_m] Antonino
[name_m]Granville[/name_m] [name_u]Grey[/name_u] Marchmont Manners Plantagenet
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] [name_f]Martha[/name_f] Tryphena [name_f]Kezia[/name_f] [name_f]Catherine[/name_f]
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_m]Joseph[/name_m] [name_m]Matthew[/name_m] [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] [name_m]Stanislas[/name_m] [name_m]Aloysius[/name_m] Basilde (this was a boy)
[name_m]Robert[/name_m] [name_f]Alma[/name_f] Balaklava Inkermann Sebastopol Delhi
[name_f]Eugenie[/name_f] [name_f]Hortense[/name_f] [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] St [name_m]George[/name_m] [name_f]Catherine[/name_f]
[name_f]Evelyne[/name_f] [name_f]Clementina[/name_f] Wentworth [name_f]Cornelia[/name_f] [name_f]Maude[/name_f]
[name_f]Honora[/name_f] [name_f]Maria[/name_f] [name_f]Teresa[/name_f] [name_f]Pia[/name_f] Giacoma [name_f]Carolina[/name_f] [name_f]Vittoria[/name_f]
[name_u]Peace[/name_u] [name_u]Marsh[/name_u] [name_f]Violet[/name_f] Heralda [name_f]Maude[/name_f] [name_f]May[/name_f] [name_f]Mabel[/name_f]
There’s literally hundreds more. However, it seems as though in the 1800’s in the UK, 4 names was the norm.
Thanks everyone!!
I actually really like [name_f]Karin[/name_f] (Kah-rin) much more than [name_f]Karen[/name_f] (Care-in). Your daughter has a lovely name.
@lawsonhaley: That is a really cool list. And Mr. [name_f]Mary[/name_f] up there as some pretty awesome names. I would pick one of those to go by if I was him. Thank you for digging that up.
I thought maybe I was giving my baby too many names too when I had her but when I thought about leaving them out, I couldn’t do it.
(1fn, and 3 mn) We’re a multiracial couple and 3 of her names come from one of her ethnicities, and the 4th was just an English name we liked.
Personally I think three given names- one first, two middles- is enough for most people. Maybe four, a double first and double middle, if at least two of the names are short.
Unless you’re royal/aristocratic ([name_m]Duke[/name_m], [name_m]Earl[/name_m], etc.) or a celebrity, three or more middles seems ridiculous to me. Or Italian or [name_m]French[/name_m] - [name_m]Rudolph[/name_m] [name_m]Valentino[/name_m] had four middle names and three last names, and a lot of [name_m]French[/name_m] presidents have had three or four, and it just seems rather exotic and dramatic to me.
[name_m]Even[/name_m] for those people though, I think any more than five or six is too much. Some historical European royals had like ten, and it just feels like a list rather than a person’s name.
I know I’m in the minority on this site but I think giving someone two middle names is a little bit much. Sure, it’s fun picking out all those names, and you want to make sure your child has options, everyone is honored, everything sounds nice together, etc, etc, but it also sounds a tiny bit pretentious to me.
There were also a few girls I used to swim with who had hyphenated firsts and hyphenated lasts. Cumbersome and annoying for somebody cheering for them (even if you’re just having to use their first names!) during a meet. Go Seabiscuit-[name_f]Beth[/name_f] (not her real name), Go!
It wasn’t me calling it impossible, I was just using the same word that the PP who says her daughter can’t go by [name_f]Karin[/name_f] had used.
It’s the same sound 
[name_m]Both[/name_m] names share origins and both are ‘KAH’. 
Then it might be a regional thing. I went to school with two Karens who insisted that their name was said Care-in. (Or maybe I’m explaining poorly). It made classes rather annoying when you had a [name_f]Karen[/name_f] and me, [name_f]Erin[/name_f], in the same class. It was like someone put a K in front of my name. I would look if you said [name_f]Karen[/name_f], they looked if you said [name_f]Erin[/name_f]. It was a mess.