How were "middle names" originated?

Question

How were "middle names" originated?

Answer 1

Yikes that's an interesting question !!  I DO know that in the Philippines, the middle name is OFTEN the Mother's maiden name.

Despite their relatively long existence in the Western world, the phrase "middle name" was not recorded until 1835 in Harvardiana, a periodical of the time.

I know in OUR family, it is tradition that the middle names are the given name of one of the grandparents, or Uncles / Aunts.