Middle Names
10.26.07My brother’s wife is expecting another kid soon and they’re all runnin’ round tryin’ to get good name ideas and it just occurred to me…why do we have middle names? I have never used it once. Never have I been referred to by it, all it is is a letter that I have to write down every time I write my name on some military document. So why even bother if its never used?
If I was a better man, I would have gone by my middle name since age 12. I’m 23 and I still have to repeat, then spell, then reference my name anytime I introduce myself to someone. Let’s just say it got old a little over a decade ago.
Dag! If you don't get it then noone
I don’t know about you… but I have a middle name so people (especially my mom) can use it-with my first name- for “special emphasis.”
… and inquiring minds want to know your middle name!
Amethyst
October 26th, 2007
But is that all there is to it? Just to use as a fear tool? Thats ridiculous in my book…and should be in any common sense thinking person’s mind. To go through so much effort as having it officially on a birth certificate….thinking of the name first, then using it during a child’s adolescent years just to use as a “training aid”…preposterous.
My middle name is Jordan…something which has never been used before except as the aforementioned “training aid”.
Sure Fire
October 26th, 2007
dude….i think it’s to carry on family names. For instance. My middle name is my grandpas first name. and my brother’s middle name is my mother’s father’s first name. It’s tradition. be proud and stop bitching!!!
erik
October 26th, 2007
…who was bitching here? I was just wondering if anyone could shed some kind of light on the subject. It just hit my head and I thought I would ask my fan club for any insights, which you actually provided. I didn’t really think about it like that. But even then…why not just name them that first name and add a “I” or “III” to it. I think that would be so much cooler than just hiding it in a middle name.
The only time I think a middle name even counts for anything is with southern names like “Joe Bob” or Jimmy Dean”…heh…jimmy dean…heh heh. Anyway, thats all I got so far.
Sure Fire
October 26th, 2007
ok, so I was mostly joking about the angry-parent-training-tool idea… I don’t think I’ve ever heard my parents use my middle name in anger. I guess other people do. I like middle names because it gives people more of a unique identity. I have the benefit of having a relatively unique first & last name. I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one with that combination of names in the whole United States. Add a middle name to the mix, and I’m definitely the only one of my kind.
so there ya go. That’s my new middle name theory.
Amethyst
October 29th, 2007
Hey SF! Kidding aside, I can give one answer to your question since I am into genealogy. My own family came here from Germany and each of the boys were given their fathers first name. Apparently that made it easy to call TWELVE sons to dinner
They were given the middle name, which they actually used, at the time of their christening. Names such as Adam, Michael, Peter, Jacob, Daniel, etc showed up on land grants/deeds, wills, marriage licenses etc. All family records do show their given name to be the same as their father and listed at time of birth, with the middle recorded only in the Bible with the date of baptism, not birth. Hope this helps!
SK
October 29th, 2007
LOL my parents used the full,middle,last name while screaming at us kids all the time. the bigger trouble you were in, the more names they used.
liz
October 29th, 2007