[name_m]Hi[/name_m] berries!
I’m curious to see if any of you either use your/or childrens MN on a daily basis. [name_m]How[/name_m] does it work? Was it hard to get others to use it? What about in school or at work? Any comments, thoughts are greatly appreciated!
I personally go by my first name, but I grew up in southeast US with many classmates who went by their middle names. My uncle also goes by his middle name.
My uncle:
[name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Edward[/name_m] - “[name_m]Eddie[/name_m]”
Classmates from school:
[name_m]Thomas[/name_m] [name_u]Hunter[/name_u] - “[name_u]Hunter[/name_u]”
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] - “[name_f]Gracie[/name_f]”
[name_f]Laura[/name_f] [name_f]Daniela[/name_f] - “[name_f]Daniela[/name_f]”
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] - “[name_u]Ash[/name_u]”
[name_m]Robert[/name_m] [name_m]John[/name_m] - “[name_m]Jack[/name_m]”
[name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] - “[name_u]Sam[/name_u]”
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] - “[name_f]Katie[/name_f]”
[name_u]Meredith[/name_u] [name_f]Tess[/name_f] - “[name_f]Tess[/name_f]”
[name_f]Stephanie[/name_f] [name_f]Danielle[/name_f] - “[name_f]Danielle[/name_f]”
[name_u]Blake[/name_u] [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u] - “[name_m]Mac[/name_m]”
I go by my first name, but my sister often gets both nickname & middle together as an endearment thing: [name_f]Anna[/name_f]-[name_f]Beth[/name_f]. Her full name is [name_f]Annaliese[/name_f], but she never gets called that. She mostly gets called [name_f]Anna[/name_f], but some family members or close friends use [name_f]Anna[/name_f] or [name_f]Anna[/name_f]-[name_f]Beth[/name_f] interchangeably.
I know several people who go by their middle name rather then their first name. They typically (when writing their full name) write first initial, middle name, last name. For example, my cousin writes his legal name as J. [name_u]Hunter[/name_u] M***.
I do have another cousin who went by his middle name, however when he got older he started going by his first name. (Which is very confusing - we call him by his middle name, while his wife and her family call him by his first name. Sometimes it takes a minute to figure out who they’re talking about.)
I personally don’t go by my middle name, but know several people who do.
My [name_f]MIL[/name_f] is one of four children and all her siblings use their middle name as their first basically, they’ve been using them since birth so it wasn’t ever an issue.
My uncle and my cousin both use their middle names as their firsts.
I think that it is common enough that it isn’t that big of a deal.
Out of my girls, coming to think of it, only [name_f]Viola[/name_f] gets her middle name said on more of a daily basis. I think it’s because they mend together well - Violamahal. It almost sounds like I’m speaking Arabic lol. I have noticed, however, that in school [name_f]Noor[/name_f] prefers to write both her first and middle name when asked to at the top of any activity and even in her own drawings at home and about.
I use my middle name occassionally, because I feel like it’s a shame it never gets to be used. Mainly my first name (or even pseudo) though, because I grew up being called that.
Some of my friends go by their middle name exclusively. At first people called them by the first name, but it didn’t take long until we all use the middle name.
My husband goes by his middle name. His parents started calling him by his middle name when he was little, and he has been [name_u]James[/name_u] ever since. In his family there are a few men (his grandfather and uncle) who go by their middle name.
Outside of my husband I know only one person who goes by her middle name, one of my colleagues. She once told me she just doesn’t like her first name because it’s an “old lady name”, as she calls it.
I don’t personally and I don’t know anyone who does.
I use my middle name online, even on facebook, mainly because my surname is so ugly and unusual and always pronounced wrong, I’ve grown to hate it. I’d much rather people know me as [name_f]Carys[/name_f] [name_f]Marie[/name_f]. On formal documents of course I use my surname, but that’ll be due to change soon once I’m married anyway.
I only discovered last year, at the age of 20, that my Aunt [name_f]Anne[/name_f] (who is an aunt by marriage) isn’t really an [name_f]Anne[/name_f] at all. It’s her middle name. Her birth name is [name_f]Rosalind[/name_f].
My discovery was made, when I queried as to why I couldn’t find her on the birth records on Ancestry.co.uk, as part of my family tree research. When I told my dad I couldn’t find her, he calmly said, “oh that’s because her given name was [name_f]Rosalind[/name_f].”
Not only that, when I commented on it the next time I saw her, turns out even my cousins - her own children - didn’t know either.
So it certainly can be done!
I know quite a few people who go by middle names, and as far as I’m aware they’ve never had a problem with it. I even know someone who goes by a nickname of her second middle name, and she’s always been fine. I think especially if a first name is an honour name or is unfamiliar in the language of the country you live in, it’s very easy to go by a middle name.
I don’t have children, but sometimes my parents call me by my first and middle names (’[name_f]Harriet[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f]’). Depending on the tone, tt’s either a term of endearment, or I’m in big trouble!
Edited for Privacy
My brother was named for my father, so he was called by his middle to avoid confusion. He will likely do the same with his first son.