Does anybody know the point of having middle names?

Question

Does anybody know the point of having middle names?

Answer 1

German immigrants to the American colonies during the 17th century introduced the custom of giving a child both a first and middle given name.  However, it wasn't until the early part of the 19th century that middle names spread to the American upper classses.  John Quincy Adams, for example, is the first instance of an American President with a middle name.  The trend, however, didn't catch on with the American middle class until the 1840s when it became a popular practice.  During the latter half of the 19th century, middle names jumped the pond back to the United Kingdom.

Middle names may accomplish the following tasks (or at least they have in my family tree):

1)  Sometimes they honor relatives, for instance, naming a child after both a maternal and paternal grandparent. My maternal great grandparents, for example, named their first two children after both sets of grandparents:  William Bernard was so named after his maternal and paternal grandfathers while Mary Ruth was named after her paternal and maternal grandmothers.

2)  Sometimes they continue the mother's maiden name (a common practice in Scotland and parts of the American South).  My mother's middle name, for example, is her mother's surname.

3)  Sometimes they honor a mentor.  A paternal uncle's middle name was the name of my grandfather's boss.

4)  Sometimes parents just like the sound of how the names flow together.  Witness all the Peggy Sues and Cindy Lous in the American South.

Answer 2

without the W our president might be considered not an idiot

Answer 3

The point would have probably been to identify, same as surnames. We have 5 Bens in the village, so we say 'Ben Potter' to mean 'Ben the potter'. Then, if we have 2 'Ben Potter's, we'll address this one as 'Ben the potter, son of Simon' by 'Ben Simon Potter'.

And alternative view on the origin of the middle name is that it was a way of the arisocracy distinguishing themselves - they had three names because they were important, unlike the lowly peasants.

Answer 4

There are some family traditions where the middle name is actually the Mothers Maiden name. Kind of a way of identifying her as the Mother.

Answer 5

Traditionally, the middle name originated within the Catholic church. When a child is confirmed, they take a saints name. While today this is nothing more than a mere formality, back in Middle Ages you were literally choosing for yourself a middle name.

Answer 6

Depends on the culture.  In some, a middle name was a way to honor an ancestor or other member of the family.  In other cultures, the middle names were (are) used to name the family line, perhaps the mother's, since the father's name is carried on in the last name.  In still others, a family's geographical history is carried on with forms like, (in their own languges) "Bill (of Middlebury) Smith."  In the past, and, probably still happenin, middle and last names reflect a parent such as "Lars Adamson Hildebrant" (Lars, son of Adam, Hildebrandt)

Some families just like having middle names, for no better reason than they like it.

Answer 7

And then there's the use of the patronymic (in Russia, for example):  Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (Feodor, son of Mikhail).

Answer 8

Some people like to give their child a middle name that has importance for them, ie. the mother's name, or a particular relative's name, or sometimes the mother's maiden name to carry it on.

Also, it helps to distinguish people who have the same first & last names. If there are fifty John Smiths in a city, it avoids confusion if they have different middle names, especially if one of them is involved a crime or something!

Answer 9

to sound more formal, middle names are sometimes sacred----------I mean if someone asked your middle name, you almost wouldn't give it--right.

Answer 10

First, it helps keep people separate - John Adams and John Quincy Adams, for example. Whenever our newspaper lists men caught in a prostitution sting, they are careful to use the middle names, so that John Quincy Smith, who was home with his kids, doesn't get confused with John Wilson Smith, who was looking for $150 worth of a good time.

Second, you can honor two people at once. John Smith, son of Michael Smith, marries Wanda Wilson. They name their son Michael Wilson Smith and both sides of the family are thrilled.

Third, it gives people a secod chance if they don't like their first name. John Brian Smith gets tired of the phrase "go to the john" to mean "go to the men's room", so, instead of telling his friends to call him Sandy or Chuck or Catsfish, he becomes J. Brian Smith.