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Hello! Well, I didn't know in which board to post this, I hope it's the right one.
I subscribed in this site very recently and I noticed that many users have quite an obsession with middle names. I come from Greece, where people do sometimes have a second name, but either they never use it, or they might make a combination (such as: Maria+Anna=Marianna). In some occasions, they might choose to use their second name, or, rarely, even both. But generally, the second name doesn't play an important role.
But is this different in other countries? I mean, a name that you hardly ever use, does it really matter? Do you actually ever use your middle names, or is it just for the sake of the name?
Thank you. :)
I subscribed in this site very recently and I noticed that many users have quite an obsession with middle names. I come from Greece, where people do sometimes have a second name, but either they never use it, or they might make a combination (such as: Maria+Anna=Marianna). In some occasions, they might choose to use their second name, or, rarely, even both. But generally, the second name doesn't play an important role.
But is this different in other countries? I mean, a name that you hardly ever use, does it really matter? Do you actually ever use your middle names, or is it just for the sake of the name?
Thank you. :)
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Replies
In English speaking countries the custom of middle names developed gradually between 1750 (when almost no one had one) and 1900 (by which time the great majority of children were given one.)
Although the majority of people in the USA don't use their middle names much in everyday life, there are a substantial minority who do. In the Southern USA, there are quite a few people, especially women, who are called by both the first and middle name together in everyday conversation. I myself have cousins who when they were younger were almost always referred to as Betty Jean and Dottie Sue.
There are also many people who use the name which is in the middle position officially on the birth certificate as their main "calling name" in everyday life. One of the reasons this happens is because in quite a few American families it is the custom for sons to be given the same first name as their fathers but to have a different middle name, which they are then called by. My niece's husband, for example, is "Thomas Brian" on his birth certificate, after his father, Thomas, but he is always called "Brian" in everyday conversation.
The percentage of Americans who use their middle names in this way is probably less now than it was in earlier generations. It seems to have been especially common for people born in the late 19th century to "go by" their middle names. Among my own grandparents and great-aunts and great-uncles, born during that time period, I had relatives named Mary Frances, Flora Victoria, Grover Cleveland, Alexandria Tennant, Robert Byron,
Although the majority of people in the USA don't use their middle names much in everyday life, there are a substantial minority who do. In the Southern USA, there are quite a few people, especially women, who are called by both the first and middle name together in everyday conversation. I myself have cousins who when they were younger were almost always referred to as Betty Jean and Dottie Sue.
There are also many people who use the name which is in the middle position officially on the birth certificate as their main "calling name" in everyday life. One of the reasons this happens is because in quite a few American families it is the custom for sons to be given the same first name as their fathers but to have a different middle name, which they are then called by. My niece's husband, for example, is "Thomas Brian" on his birth certificate, after his father, Thomas, but he is always called "Brian" in everyday conversation.
The percentage of Americans who use their middle names in this way is probably less now than it was in earlier generations. It seems to have been especially common for people born in the late 19th century to "go by" their middle names. Among my own grandparents and great-aunts and great-uncles, born during that time period, I had relatives named Mary Frances, Flora Victoria, Grover Cleveland, Alexandria Tennant, Robert Byron,
This message was edited 6/26/2011, 6:41 AM
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I know plenty of people here in the U.S. who have a middle name, including myself. I never really use it, but sometimes people prefer to go only by their middle name. But yet again, I know people who don't have middle names. I guess in some families, a middle name is to honour someone else in the family, eg. Mary is giving birth to a girl, where she loves her grandmother and wants to honour her grandma's name, per se it's Florence. Mary decides she will name her daughter Anna with the middle name of Florence to honour her. So I guess it just depends :)
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