What do we all think of giving kids multiple middle names? I think it’s getting more popular, but I only know a couple people who actually have them and they’re all in my SO’s family.
I like the idea of it just to get to use more of the names I love, but I wonder if it makes it harder for the child fitting the names onto forms? I had that problem as a kid, and I only have one middle! is this not a problem anymore?
My SO has two middles, so he likes the idea of using two, which I’m good with because I think it fits for our boys name pick (and means we can use a middle I like plus his family middle [name_m]Alexander[/name_m]), but I can’t think of anything to go with our girls pick!
Is it weird to have one kid with two middles and one with only one? [name_m]Will[/name_m] one kid feel left out or anything like that?
Personally hate it when a child has two middle names and another child doesn’t! In general I tend to avoid two middle names due to how hard it is to chose another perfect three name combo later on for the second, I do think it becomes a problem when their young and don’t really want a long name, but I’m someone with a long middle name and I love my name now as a teen
I would have liked to have given my daughter two middles but with two surnames it felt too much. I love the idea though of fitting in more than one beautiful name, especially if it’s an honour name or a reference to a character/author the parents love.
I personally would do the same for all of my kids although I don’t think it’s a huge deal if one has one and one has two. I don’t have a middle name at all whilst my brothers do and it’s never really bothered me.
I personally have 2 middle names. [name_f]My[/name_f] sisters and brother all also have 2 middle names. Mom always said she wanted 9 boys so She gave us 9 names between us … until she got her boy !
My husband only has one middle name and said he would only have kids with one middle name … so we negotiated… and our son has 2 middle names
I think that if it flows and you love the names or have an honour or 2 you want to use go for it!
We chose to omg on our both our living grandfathers and I think it is so special we were able to do that !
I’ve never even heard of someone having two middle names except on these forums. I’d probably only consider it for family names or names of special significance. I think the kid would end up leaving the second middle name off of forms honestly. Maybe download the forms for a passport application or something and see what that would be like.
I’d probably try to give all the kids the same number of names. Like everyone gets a unique name, and a family middle name or whatever.
I quite like two middle names, but I prefer one. I would avoid giving one child more middles than another though. Although the exception is hyphenated names, e.g. one child has a hyphenated first name and one middle name and the other has one first name, one middle name.
I think if on the first kid it is Preference [name_u]Honor[/name_u] Preference (or that in a different order) and on the second it is Preference Preference then it is fine, but other wise I would avoid it.
I plan on giving my children two middle names. As my family (and SOs family) use honour names as middle names, I like the idea of using a middle name to honour one family member from each side. I only have one middle myself, but am considering adding another middle name when I change my name to get married (adding a name similar to the middle name that both my mother and maternal grandmother share).
As for siblings having different numbers of middle names, I dont think it matters. I know several families with kids with different numbers of middles, and there is no lang lasting issues where everyone has at least one. [name_f]My[/name_f] uncle doesnt have one, so he gave his eldest both his first name as a middle, and the middle name that he wanted growing up. [name_f]My[/name_f] other cousins just have one middle, and it caused no real problems. I also have family friends where the youngest child has two middles, because the mother and father couldn’t agree on a name, so both of their first choices were used as middle names.
I think that double middles are fine as long as none of the individual names are too long (even then it’s alright, just a bit of a mouthful), and especially if it’s a tradition and/or you want to fit in an extra honour name. I’m not sure if I would use two middles, but I’m not opposed to it.
As for having siblings with different numbers of names, I personally don’t live the idea, but it isn’t a big deal. [name_f]My[/name_f] dad has two middle names but his siblings only have one.
I’m from the Netherlands, so anything goes in terms of middle names. I’ve got two, I know people with none, I know of people with four. It kind of depends on where you live in the world if it’s going to be a nuisance or not, because [name_m]Dutch[/name_m] forms obviously allow you to add everything your parents tacked onto your name and my name feels incomplete without the second middle name. But, when I lived in [name_f]England[/name_f], I had trouble adding the second middle name to some forms but that could also be just me not being used to [name_f]English[/name_f] forms.
Thanks everyone! I personally am not a big fan of kids having different numbers of middle names but it’s not the end of the world if that’s what we have to do. Though at this point I think it might be easier to just use one middle for the boys name and use the honour name there and ditch the middle that we simply like we shall see!