We have one DD with two middle names and are expecting b/g twins. For clarity sake, DH has an older son who doesn’t live with us. DSS has one middle name. Our girl twin will have a double middle name. We had planned to give the boy only one middle name.
I have two questions about double middles:
DH feels VERY strongly that double middle names are feminine. I tend to agree; I’ve never know a boy [name]IRL[/name] with two middles, but know lots of girls. What do you think? We are in [name]America[/name], if it makes a difference (which, I think it does?)
I’ve read the nameberry blog re: double middles, which points out to have equality between twins. [name]Do[/name] you think that applies to opposite sex twins? I can see how two sisters might feel inequality about middle names, but I have a harder time seeing opposite sex twins directly comparing middles.
We honestly wouldn’t even be considering a second middle for our boy twin if it weren’t for the initials problem. To me, adding a second middle just to circumvent that problem feels kind of like cheating. and, really, DH doesn’t want to do it.
Is it weird if we have two girls with two middles and two boys with one middle?
Wow. I don’t see double middle names as feminine at all. We ahve a double-barrel surname so would never go the double middle name on top of that.
I think you can do whatever you like. One of my daughters has a middle name and the other one doesn’t. Daughter without has decided to take my (SUPERBORING) middle name (when she remembers). Daughter with middle name wants to change her name to [name]Kitty[/name] [name]Science[/name]. Ha! (she is five) Kids will deal with it however they need to. I think people have to have other iss-ewes for stuff like this to affect their sense of identity and place in the world. And I am sure you will bring your kids up to be perfectly well-adjusted normal happy people.
I’ve never thought of double middle names as being only for girls. My cousin has two middle names - [name]Jason[/name] [name]Patrick[/name] [name]Lee[/name] [name]Cooper[/name]. He is an only child and his parents knew they only wanted one so he has his father’s name ([name]Patrick[/name]) and his mom’s maiden name ([name]Lee[/name]) as middle names.
I have a brother two middle names, so I don’t see double middles as particularly feminine. I think they work fine for either gender.
I don’t think it’s weird to have two girls with two middles and two boys with one. The inequality thing probably won’t be an issue. My brother that has 2 middles has always loved have 2 middle names (He thinks it enhanced his childhood because at that time in life, everything is about names, and he feels 2 middle names made him unique. That’s how he explains it, anyway.), but my other brother and I have one middle and never felt jealous of him. But then again, other children may feel differently about it. That’s just my experience with it.
I don’t think it’s weird at all.
[name]Just[/name] because they’re twins doesn’t mean it all has to be the same, especially since they are boy/girl twins.
Two separate little people with two separate identities
So I think if you feel comfortable with only one middle name for the boy, I say do it and don’t think twice.
I just want to say that [name]Kitty[/name] [name]Science[/name] is the best name I’ve heard on this site ALL WEEK!
I think matching the girls and the boys works well. Ie 2 for girls, 2 for boys.
And while I never thought about it before, yes: 2 middle names DOES seem feminine to me. Hunh. I wonder why.
I wanted 2 middles for our daughter, my husband was dead-set against it. I’m really glad we only went with one (although we kind of cheated b/c we ended up hyphenating the middle name so 2 names act like one – that seemed to satisfy my husband).
I had never heard of the double middle name until I met my now husband. He was born in [name]England[/name] and it’s more of a trend over there (so I’ve heard). His sister does not have a double middle name though. My husband’s middle names are [name]Marcus[/name] [name]Andrew[/name] and I like seeing his first and last names with M.A. in the middle If we have a boy (we’ll find out in three weeks!) his middle names will be [name]Michael[/name] [name]Andrew[/name]. I wanted his middle initials to match his dad’s and [name]Michael[/name] and [name]Andrew[/name] are the names of our fathers. I also have a cousin named [name]Luke[/name] [name]Jason[/name] [name]Grant[/name].
I would prefer not to use a double middle name for a girl. However, I have two middle name possibilities that I love but I don’t love how they sound next to my last name. So adding in a short second middle name (like [name]Grace[/name]) would actually make it sound better. The only thing that holds me back (and I know this may sound funny) is that I always imagine her name being said aloud at a graduation ceremony. For some reason the double middle name for the girl irks me.
I will say our wedding invitation was hysterical. My first and middle names have a total of 7 letters. You don’t typically include the last name for the bride on the invitation. For the groom you include their last name AND Mr. My husband’s entire name, w/ his two middle names, is 24 letters. We couldn’t even fit the Mr.
I definitely don’t think of having two middle names as a feminine quality. It’s something I’ve always intended to do with my future children. If you’re a name lover, why not? So you shouldn’t be uncomfortable giving your boy twin two middle names as well, unless you really want one middle name to make it equal with your DH’s son. I agree with what others have said that your twins don’t both HAVE to have two middle names–yes, they will be two very different people even though they are twins. However, I just think it would look better. I’m imagining myself reading the birth announcement and wondering where boy twin’s second middle name is next to his sister’s two middle names! [name]Just[/name] something to think about.
To me multiple MNs are neither feminine or masculine. I know one boy with two ([name]Shawn[/name] [name]Thomas[/name] [name]James[/name]) and one with three ([name]John[/name] [name]Francis[/name] [name]Martin[/name] [name]Craig[/name]). I do know more girls with multiple MNs though so maybe it is…
I think you should give them as many MNs as you want, don’t try to smoosh it all in just for consistency.
My oldest son has two middle names… [name]Pilot[/name] [name]David[/name] [name]Patrick[/name]. My second son only has one. We didn’t want to chance not having another boy, so we used both middle names on our oldest. I love it and I don’t think it makes him any less masculine. It’s the spaghetti sauce all over his face that does that for him.
I personally love double middle names. My husband has two middle names, the second of which was his mother’s maiden name. I may give our kids my maiden name as a second middle name. My maiden name was [name]Brooks[/name] so it’s easy for a boy and I’ll change it to [name]Brooke[/name] for a girl. I have a friend who is also from the UK with two middle names. I think it is more of a European trend. I don’t think it is either masculine nor feminine.
