Good day, Berries! So, last week I was in math class, thinking about the perfect middle name for some of my favourite first names (as berries do! 
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That got me thinking… what is the actual point of a middle name?
[name_f]My[/name_f] middle names are honor names and I know honoring-through-middles are a big purpose. I’ve also heard people say it’s a name to fall back on if the person doesn’t like their first name. Sometimes it’s a tradition in the family. Sometimes the middle name just sounds nice!
So, my question is, what does a middle name mean to you?
I’d love to learn about the purpose of middle names in different cultures too! So please, share your thoughts. 
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I come from a quiet multicultural context and want to honour both. Also because 3 names sound very elegant together. I think that they sound very aristocratically and not in a bad way
I have middle names to honour my cultural background
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I think they sound nice, can honor someone or add meaning if the first name isn’t really meaningful and if someone doesn’t like their first name, they can go by the middle!
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im not a fan of honor names for myself so for me, middle names are an opportunity to use another name i love, and perhaps use a more adventurous pick!
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I agree with all the points that have been made (nice sound, honors, fallback) and I would add that for me, middle names give me a chance to use names I love but wouldn’t put first. I’m personally a bit of a sheep and uncomfortable with putting very unusual choices in the top spot, but I’d still love to have a little Lilac/Cosette/Bear/Dove! Using as a second middle seems like a nice compromise…
edit: just realised @SparkleNinja18 made the same point, oh well I second it!
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Interesting question!
For me, middle names are like a fun little secret name that there’s no expectation for you to use — it’s just for you. Our first names and surnames get used so often and it wears down on their charm a little, but middle names still feel shiny & mysterious. There’s no real use for them, but they’re fun to have 
Also, for more common names, the middle name is what really sets it apart. I love meeting a [name_f]Lucy[/name_f] and wondering if they’re a [name_f]Lucy[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] or a [name_f]Lucy[/name_f] [name_f]Wildflower[/name_f], for example!
Most of my combos have double middles because the middles help solidify the imagery or the vibes I get from the first name. Also, there are so many names I love and probably won’t get to use, so tucking them in as middle names feels like the perfect solution 
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Middle names are a way to use names I wouldn’t feel quite brave enough to use as a first or have a bonus name if I can’t decide between two. I would also use it as a way to honor heritage.
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for me, middle names are, like [name_u]Lu[/name_u] said above, a fun little secret name to have; and a beautiful way to honor in a more adventurous manner. i see it a little differently for boys and girls -
for boys, i prefer to have some of my absolute favorites as middles, because so many have “gone to the girls” and i wouldn’t feel comfortable using them as a first - names like kennedy or emerson.
for girls, i tend to incorporate more culture and honors. nadezhda as a first? terribly hard to say in my location. as a middle? wonderful! i also tend to put more month or season names in - like marianne october and charlotte winter. word names, too!
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This is how I see them too! I don’t have a middle name and I always felt that I was missing out on this fun, secret thing! If people know my first + last name, then they know my whole name. But if I had a middle, it would be this little “fun fact” that only select people could know.
For my own kids, I see it as an opportunity to use more names that I love, since I have so many + will definitely not have enough kids to use them any other way! I also like using them as a way to honour someone whilst still giving the child their own first name.
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From a combo-making perspective, I always use middles because I enjoy the process of finding two (or more) names that come together to represent a certain style or imagery I want to get across. I like to blend styles and go for more out-there middles.
IRL I don’t particularly hold a lot of significance to middle names in general, outside of a curious namenerd context. Since I won’t be naming any children, I don’t think much about the role middle names play in my combos. I prefer to honor people with less direct connections, so middle names aren’t really an [name_u]Honor[/name_u] Spot™ in my mind.
TL;DR — To me, they’re just an extension/free real estate for my creative powers while making combos! Not much more than that.
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This is such a fun question! A few thoughts:
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Middle names are a neat way to connect to others without sharing a first name (which can get confusing). [name_f]My[/name_f] mn is [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], and I’m the fifth generation of women in my family to have it. So I have a special link to each of those women, though we’ve all been called different names. Bonus, I love connecting with other Elizabeths, either with their first or middle name.
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[name_f]My[/name_f] husband and I care about the meanings of names, and a middle name gives another place for that. So our oldest three are “pure joy,” “man of the white fields,” and “zealous fire of the Lord” instead of “joy,” “white fields,” and “zealous.”
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Not all of my kids have an honor name as a middle, but for the ones that do, I love that we used that second naming slot to honor special friends and family.
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I loved reading your response, especially regarding the meanings! I do looove a good meaning, I’ve never thought about how a middle name can highlight that. Thank you!
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To me, crafting combos is just - well - fun - a bit of an art, a way to create a piece of magic and beauty. A middle is a way to make a first name feel a certain way.
If I was to have a child, a middle name would serve as an opportunity to use another well loved name, to give another gift, to give them another option to use 
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ditto!
On a practical level, they also work to differentiate people, like My boyfriend has the same first and last name as his father, but a different middle name, which helps when they get mail 
Seconding this as well, haha
I don’t personally see much point to middles, but they are fun.
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In just for fun combos I see the middle as a great place to use names that don’t works as firsts or just a spot to get to use more names you like and I have fun putting together combos I think sound nice.
For real life combos, I have a middle name that was just picked because it sounded good with no other reason behind it and its the same general style as my first with the added downside of spelling/pronunciation issues so it also wouldn’t really work as a second option if I didn’t like my first so I’ve always felt really lukewarm about it. Its… there, I guess. It sounds nice but doesn’t feel special or like I have any connection to it. As a result I’m pretty sure that for real kids I want to use middle names with some sort of special meaning behind them wether thats direct honor names or a name that connects to something else meaningful. The plan is for the first names they actually go by to be new fresh start names for my kids to forge their own identities on and then the middle names to have a story behind them to give them a special sense of connection to something because I wish I had that in my own name.
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This. Even beyond related people, if you have a common first and last a different middle could help prevent mix ups. My dad has the same exact really common first/middle/last as some random guy and its caused so many issues that could have been avoided if they had at least had different middles and I had a college class with a repeat of my same common first and last (we used our student ids to differentiate on our assignments but different middles probably would have also been an option).
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I guess to me it’s mostly a way to add some more meaning or significance to my children’s names. Some of their middle names are direct honors, some are less direct, and some are names we loved that holds a personal significance to me and/or my husband.
And of course it’s an extra opportunity for us to use a name we love, in some cases a name we couldn’t or didn’t want to use as a first. I wouldn’t dream of giving my child the first name Pythagoras, but as a middle it adds a little fun to our son’s name (among other things).
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For me, middle names are almost another way to form identity!!
I may be a little biased (since I go by my middle name), but truthfully I really didn’t know what “feeling like your name” felt like until I started going by my middle!
For some, obviously, middles won’t have a huge impact, but for others they will and I think for that reason alone I love them so much
I also love being able to use names I love and honoring my loved ones!!
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Some of the middle names on my list have special meaning to me (Elisabeth, [name_f]Lavender[/name_f], Thomas). Other times I want to freshen up a name that others may find dusty. For example, [name_m]Todd[/name_m] is often seen as a dated name, so I wanted to put something fun and youthful with it. [name_m]Todd[/name_m] [name_m]Bramble[/name_m] has very different vibes than [name_m]Todd[/name_m] [name_u]Charles[/name_u], for instance. Middle names are also an opportunity to use guilty pleasure names! Finally, sometimes the combo just flows really nicely.
TLDR: I use middle names for 1) their special meaning, 2) to brighten up a name, 3) to use GPs, and 4) because they flow well with the first name.
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