Middle Names

General Name Discussion
1

See the results of this poll: Motivations for Choosing Middle Names?

Respondents: 35 (This poll is closed)

  • To honor friends : 8 (6%)
  • To honor relatives : 23 (19%)
  • To honor spouse or partner : 9 (7%)
  • To honor self (your own name) : 5 (4%)
  • To provide nice-sounding name bridge : 19 (15%)
  • To use a 2nd or 3rd favorite name : 20 (16%)
  • To be more daring in name choice than 1st : 15 (12%)
  • To repeat certain sounds in 1st/last names : 1 (1%)
  • To provide child with other name option(s) : 16 (13%)
  • To please partner and self (each chooses one): 8 (6%)
2

This is an interesting question, as I also debated the necessity of middle names for my child. I felt like putting a redundant second name after the first because it’s “tradition” and everyone else does it, only for it to sit there as an initial, unused and ignored, was rather silly. Middles probably started as a means of differentiating all the [name_m]Dick[/name_m] Smiths and [name_m]John[/name_m] [name_m]Williams[/name_m]'s floating around in the old days, but with naming becoming so varied and personalised these days? Is it really still necessary?

In the end I decided to let in a middle name for my soon-to-be kid anyway, deciding not to make a choice between the top two names we liked - [name_m]Caspar[/name_m] and [name_u]Sloan[/name_u]. Or if it’s a girl, [name_f]Dominica[/name_f] and [name_f]Sabine[/name_f]. So let them choose which name, nn, or combo they would rather go by… as a singly-named person, I admit I would have liked the slightly increased freedom of choice!

3

My middle name choices, and many of my first name choices, honor family or have special meaning to my family.

I actually do not like hearing “a filler name”. Would anyone actually just throw a name into the middle name spot without it meaning something to them, honoring someone, or they simply like the name? Many of the names that honor family of mine are announced as fillers. [name_f]Grace[/name_f] is often called a filler. [name_f]Grace[/name_f] is a gorgeous name. There is so much beauty and meaning in that one syllable name. Maybe, people use it because they love it and it is special to them. This is like assuming people do not discuss and think over their first name choices. I think no one does either.

I asked the second question to family members. No one in the family and only a handful of people they knew went by their middle names. I am choosing to use the middle name for example with [name_f]Sofia[/name_f] [name_f]Poet[/name_f] because I prefer the name [name_f]Poet[/name_f] (even though I love both). This breaks a big rule of mine, giving your children a name and then using the middle name exclusively. I feel you should just have put the name you are going to use on the birth certificate. This way she could write [name_f]Sofia[/name_f] [name_f]Poet[/name_f] Surname on applications. I do not see how it really matters if her name is [name_f]Sofia[/name_f] or [name_f]Poet[/name_f] but it seems to really matter to some.

I have posted polls asking which middle names people preferred. They were out of middle names that we chose and love, honor family and have special meaning, we just had trouble narrowing things down.

4

When I spoke of “filler” names I was not disparaging anyone’s name choices. I was simply noting that back in the day it seemed everyone’s middle was [name_f]Ann[/name_f], [name_f]Marie[/name_f], [name_f]Diane[/name_f], [name_u]Lynn[/name_u], [name_f]Louise[/name_f], etc. Short one or two syllable names that sound good between the first and last names. Now many people - especially nameberries - are into selecting two or three middles and the choices are considerably more varied.

I also noted that I felt my daughter’s second out of three names - [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] - was a filler name, meaning that I liked how it sounded between the two main names and that is why I chose it. Sure, I like the name and have some positive associations with it, but it is not a top name of mine, just like the sound.

[name_f]Sofia[/name_f] and [name_f]Poet[/name_f] are lovely names, in whatever order.

5

For us, it was because we liked so manu beautiful names and some of them are honorific that we chose two middles. [name_f]Persephone[/name_f] is a name we both love and has religious meaning for us, [name_f]Elysia[/name_f] means “blessed” and referrences the place spirits who are blessed by the gods go after death in Greek mythology (Elysian Fields) and [name_f]Willow[/name_f] is a tree I love and it has a lot of symbolism about immortality and strength.

And if she ever decides that she doesn’t like [name_f]Persephone[/name_f] as a full name (because I don’t us a nickname with her) she has [name_u]Percy[/name_u], Sephy, Seph, [name_f]Effie[/name_f], Pony, [name_f]Elle[/name_f], [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], [name_f]Ella[/name_f], [name_u]Lisa[/name_u], [name_f]Lia[/name_f], [name_u]Elia[/name_u], [name_f]Willa[/name_f], [name_f]Willow[/name_f], [name_f]Lolo[/name_f], [name_f]Lola[/name_f], [name_m]Will[/name_m]…She has lots of options. That’s what I try to do with all my names.

[name_m]Damien[/name_m] [name_m]Quillon[/name_m] Samwise (a name I’ve loved forever, a name that honors my Greek heritage and has [name_m]Quill[/name_m] in it because I write and a name from LOTR) can be Dame, [name_f]Damie[/name_f], [name_m]Ian[/name_m], [name_u]Dean[/name_u], [name_m]Quill[/name_m], [name_u]Sam[/name_u]… [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] [name_m]Dante[/name_m] [name_m]Griffin[/name_m] (an historical name with Greek roots, a painter and author we love, a mythological creature and a name I’ve loved forever) can be [name_m]Al[/name_m], [name_u]Alex[/name_u], [name_u]Lex[/name_u], [name_m]Ander[/name_m], [name_m]Anders[/name_m], [name_m]Xan[/name_m], [name_m]Xander[/name_m], [name_m]Lander[/name_m], [name_m]Griff[/name_m], [name_u]Finn[/name_u]… [name_f]Sylvana[/name_f] Lorien [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] (a name that honors my god, a name from LOTR, a name [name_u]Cody[/name_u] loves that honors our goddess) can be [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f], [name_f]Sylvia[/name_f], [name_f]Lana[/name_f], [name_f]Sana[/name_f], [name_f]Vana[/name_f], [name_f]Yana[/name_f], [name_f]Lori[/name_f], [name_u]Loren[/name_u], [name_m]Ian[/name_m], [name_f]Sophie[/name_f]…

Anyway, I talked a lot up there. So yes, because we love so many names, to have lots of options, and often to honors our gods and in a few places, my family.

6

Well I can’t speak in general really as I don’t know the reasons for why anyone else gives their child the middle name they do, but I’ll apply your points to myself and my family.

In my family almost every middle name used is honouring of family, or, in the case of the ones which go by their middles (there are a few), the first name is honouring and the middle is ‘their own’. I plan on giving my children two middle names with at least one of them being honouring. Unfortunately I don’t yet know the identity of my future husband so I can’t incorporate any of his family names in yet. The second middle might be honouring too, or it might just be a name I (and hopefully my husband) loves or means something to us. I would never just use a name for ‘flow’; I don’t think it’s that important as long as the name doesn’t sound awful or create a tongue-twister. I so think there is a cultural difference here, though. I had never heard of name flow before I can onto Nameberry and I don’t really think it’s really a big thing here in the UK. I don’t really feel I can comment on filler names because I don’t really think you can call a name a filler unless you know the reasons behind it being chosen, as I think a pp said. For example, two of my cousins have the middle name [name_f]Grace[/name_f] which is usually seen as a filler, however it is our [name_f]Nanny[/name_f]'s first name and they are both named after her. And as for your last point I wouldn’t personally give the middles names specifically thinking that they could be used if the kid didn’t like their first name (though I would hope that they did!) however I guess it’s always good to have a back-up. :slight_smile: Besides, I like to think that the most of my names aren’t too unusual, even if they’re uncommon, and a lot of them have more-common nicknames which could be used rather than having to resort to using the middle (e.g. [name_u]Georgie[/name_u] for [name_f]Georgiana[/name_f] and [name_f]Rosie[/name_f] for [name_f]Rosamund[/name_f]).

I hope that made sense. I feel like I was rambling.

7

Got it.

Thank you for the comment on [name_f]Sofia[/name_f] and [name_f]Poet[/name_f].

8

I am pretty solidly in the ‘to use a 2nd or 3rd favorite name’ group.

My oldest got his middle name because I loved it almost as much as his first and just wanted to use it.
My youngest got his middle name because I loved it but it was more ‘classic’ than I wanted for a first name.

9

I know that all the girls I grew up with had names like this:

[name_f]Tara[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f]
[name_f]Danielle[/name_f] [name_u]Lynn[/name_u]
[name_f]Brooklin[/name_f] [name_f]Anne[/name_f]
[name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u] [name_f]Anne[/name_f]
[name_f]Kayla[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f]
[name_f]Nicole[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f]
[name_f]Jacqueline[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f] (who has a twin named [name_f]Lauren[/name_f] [name_f]Olivia[/name_f]…)
[name_f]Melissa[/name_f] [name_f]Rose[/name_f]
[name_f]Emily[/name_f] [name_f]Rose[/name_f]
[name_f]Jessica[/name_f] [name_f]Rose[/name_f]

and so on and so forth

I was always happy that I had the middle name [name_f]Alannah[/name_f] (although no one gets it correct), because it isn’t boring. In my grade 11 parenting class, we actually had to write a paper on naming a child and choose 3 names for each gender, explaining why we chose them. My list looked like this (I cringe just thinking about how awful the girls names I had were:)

[name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u] [name_f]Liberty[/name_f] - my favourite city in the world is [name_m]New[/name_m] [name_m]York[/name_m], I thought it was clever
Meaghanne [name_f]Noelle[/name_f] - I have absolutely no idea why I would choose Meaghanne. I really don’t, but in my paper, she was born at [name_u]Christmas[/name_u].
[name_f]Leah[/name_f] [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] - the only one for a girl off this list I would still use (although, I had a huge list of 25 combos to choose from, if I could remember them, I’m sure there’d be more I liked)

[name_m]Mark[/name_m] [name_m]William[/name_m] - not sure why I wanted [name_m]William[/name_m]…
[name_m]Thomas[/name_m] [name_m]Anthony[/name_m] - the first AND middle name of my favourite singer at the time
[name_m]Matthew[/name_m] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] - I love Manchester United, and [name_m]Matt[/name_m] [name_m]Busby[/name_m], my favourite MUFC coach was named [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] [name_m]Matthew[/name_m].

I would love to see [name_f]Marie[/name_f] on someone else’s baby :slight_smile: I think it’s lovely, and, if I remember correctly, in the UK, [name_f]Louise[/name_f] is a top middle name, but is still slightly more popular than [name_f]Louisa[/name_f].

My dad was born in 1962, his dad named him [name_m]Dwayne[/name_m] after a band he loved, and my grandmother wanted [name_m]Brian[/name_m], so they used [name_m]Dwayne[/name_m] [name_m]Brian[/name_m], and called him [name_m]Brian[/name_m].

I love double middle names a lot, so I’d use one if the flow was correct. Usually for me, a middle name choice would be to add some fun to the combination, or to flow the name into the last name better.

My parents didn’t do that for me, but, when I contemplated using my middle name (once at age 5, once at age 13, and once at age 17), they were totally fine with it. I think you need to choose a middle name that your child could easily use if they don’t like their first name, but that’s just me.