Do kids really need a middle name?

[mic0]

Pros: get a nice middle initial in your resume; more options for nicknames or if they hate their name as an adult; 80% of Americans have a middle name
Cons: coming up with a first name is already really hard; i don't care about my middle name, so maybe that's normal?; not having a middle name is special apparently

Maybe not having a middle name is more special anyway! Do all of you have middle names? I legally changed my middle name to my maiden name when I got married. Forgetting the fact that I wish I hadn't done that song and dance at all, I don't particularly miss my middle name. My mom is kind of sad about it though.

I accidentally convinced my husband that the middle name of the baby could just be my maiden name, but now I feel like that leaves out my mom's side of the family! Names are complicated!

[Amity]

I like the idea of giving my kids my last name as their middle name. My husband gets to give his last name to the kid, so why shouldn't I? I say this as someone who wasn't given a middle name and has dealt with a lifetime of awkwardness because of it (a few months ago I had to fill out a very important government form to get a background check, and it was delayed because someone forgot to write NMN in the middle name box).

And congrats on the baby!

[yayfulness]

My middle name is my mom's maiden name. I like it. (My name situation is a bit awkward because my first name is a very common first name and my last name is an uncommon first name that is nonetheless more common as a first name than as a last name.) My wife and I have thought about doing something similar when we have a kid. That said, while yayfulgirl socially goes by my last name, she still hasn't legally changed her last name, so we could still end up just going with hyphenated last names for the kids.

We are terrible at making decisions.

That said, we do plan on giving all of our kids middle names.

[TheBlackSheep]

I hate my middle name. Always have. I have frequently considered changing it to my mother's maiden name.

Also, CONGRATS ON THE BABY! You guys are gonna be sooo great.

[mic0]

Amity -- Omg no middle name has caused you real problems! I guess I should consider carefully if that's going too far. It's so odd that they need an entry; shouldn't the government be able to figure out some people don't have a middle name? Hmmm.

Yayfulness -- ah so you like the maiden name middle name that you have! Good good. And TBS you don't like your regular middle name but your mother's maiden name you might like, very interesting. Now what if I have another kid -- should they all have the same middle name of my maiden name? Am I thinking too far ahead? I do feel like this leaves out my mom's side of the family, maybe I could go with her maiden name even.

It's interesting how all of us feel about our middle names (or lack of).

[Marduk]

I have no special attachment to my middle name, but my last name is very unique (outside of the UK) and the spelling of my first name is also very unusual. I could see it being more meaningful if my other names were more common.

I think middle names are a great place to continue traditions, or demonstrate familial connections. I'm planning for my son (if I have one) to have my dad's name for a middle name.

[mic0]

Thanks for your input marduk! I'm glad most of you aren't too affected by your middle names (sorry TBS), and it sounds like no middle name does have a few consequences. But at least this means the middle name isn't as salient for most people.

[TheBlackSheep]

I mean, I'm sure I wouldn't have feelings about mine either except my parents created two terrible middle names for me and my next youngest sister to make them work with the theme they were using. My other four siblings all got perfectly fine middle names, none of which I have feelings about. So just don't give a terrible middle name. Problem solved, haha.

[mic0]

We do have some ideas on terrible middle names that are tempting then I remember the kid does actually have to live with it and I decide the joke isn't good enough.

Next question brought in by TBS : themed family names, what's up with that?

[Genuine Article]

My mom didn't have a middle name because it was assumed that when she got married her maiden name would become her middle name, and that's what she did. So when my parents had my oldest sister they didn't give her a middle name, and weren't planning on giving any of us future girls middle names either, but my second sister was due around Christmas and they thought the name Noel went really well with the first name they had picked out, so they gave her a middle name. And then all the rest of us after her got middle names, which left my oldest sister feeling pretty ripped off, so when she was in college she decided to pick her own middle name, and she's used it for long enough that it's considered her legal name. Oddly enough, she chose the name Marty.

Also, one day my third sister was looking at her birth certificate and realized that her middle name wasn't on there, so she'd been using a fake name for years and never knew.

I went through a period in fourth grade where I hated my middle name and wouldn't tell anyone what it was (Leigh) because the year before we'd read Dear Mr. Henshaw, and that's the main character's name, but he's a BOY. So embarrassing. But it also lent me an air of mystery, that no one could get me to say what my middle name was.

My husband's middle name (Reed) is the same as his dad's and grandpa's, so it's a tradition that the firstborn son gets this middle name, which meant we had to work our first name picks around it, and it knocked off some names I otherwise would have loved, like Arthur (because of Arthur Read the aardvark) and Harold (because of Harry Reid the senator).

I love last names as middle names, and know a guy who has his mother's maiden name as his middle name, but it's Roberts, and when he told people what it was they'd always say "Robert?" and he'd be like "No, RobertS with an S." Take it from me, names that require an explanation are a pain in the butt.

Ramblings over.

[mic0]

Genuine article -- those were great ramblings, thank you

In case anyone's wondering, I've come to no conclusions on first or middle names. 3 weeks to decide!!

[Digit]

Middle name Wait for It

[mic0]

Digit -- no!! But also I forgot about that great option.

I'm pretty convinced at the moment of a single letter middle name with many possible interpretations for what it stands for. Is that crazy? Like Junie b Jones and no one knows what the b stands for.

[Whistler]

Kevin J Worthen's middle name is just "J". It doesn't stand for anything.

[mic0]

Nice. I'm getting more convinced every second.

[Marduk]

Kevin J Worthen's middle name is just "J". It doesn't stand for anything.

Isn't Harry Truman the same story?

[yayfulness]

Yep. The S comes from both of his grandfathers' names, but it's just a single letter.

[mic0]

We went with the letter b! Already have to explain it all the time, guess we set him up for that. What are parents for if not needlessly making up difficult names?

[TheBlackSheep]

He’s so cute!!

[Genuine Article]

We went with the letter b! Already have to explain it all the time, guess we set him up for that. What are parents for if not needlessly making up difficult names?

Letter B! [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmVd9F1fW00[/url]