- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Baby Names
No Middle Name?
Is there anyone that is not/did not give their LO a middle name? Why did you decide to do this?
DH has no middle name. Considering doing this with our LO as well...
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Re: No Middle Name?
11 months
I think it depends on the first and last name. A name like Ava Smith or Aidan White would probably be better off having a middle name.
A name like Ophelia Lamerson would probably be okay not having a middle name.
Growing up in grade school we had an Ashley Felts and an Ashley Fields in class. Most teachers then went to middle names, so it was Ashley J. and and Ashley E. for them, since they couldn't both be Ashley F.
I personally will give my children middle names.
I'm really not a fan of this because I feel like it's inevitable that their mn will become "no middle name."
"No middle name" takes longer to say than "William" or whatever. I guess I just don't see a reason not to have one even though none of us ever use our middle names.
I didn't grow up with one (switched my maiden to my middle when I got married) & I was fine with it.
Positive: I'm Catholic & liked that I got to pick out a confirmation name & used it as my unofficial middle name until I got married.
Negative: When I was in college, everyone was assigned an email address which had your initials (3 letters) and then 3 numbers. Since I didn't have a middle name I had an "x" in between my first and last initials.
My grandmother felt absolutely no attachment with her middle name, so she subsequently didn't bother to give her kids middle names.
Not that it's caused my mom any emotional distress, mind you, but did make sure my sister and I had one. I personally don't use mine much, but it's a nice placeholder. And, since I married a Smith, it offers a bit of distinction when Googling myself.
For day-to-day life, it really won't matter a great deal if your little person has one or not. But there's are situations where it's customary to have one. If you can find a middle name that you can both live with (or at least an initial for form-filling purposes--think Harry S Truman!), that would be good.
My family calls me by my first & middle name together all the time & I do this with my DS as well. So from my perspective, middle names are important. I also think that the child might feel left out not having one when all of their friends do. Plus I think of things like high school & college graduation when they read your first, middle & last name. When hearing a bunch of first, middle & last names in a row & then hearing just "John Smith", it kind of breaks the rhythym, thus making the child stand out more, for better or worse. I know I wouldn't like it.
It's a personal decision, but my opinion is that full names that include a middle name sound more complete.
My dad doesn't have a middle name and there has been situations when that has been a (small) problem for him. He had to fill out some paper work and it asked for his middle initial, he tried to explain that he doesn't have one but they just wouldn't accept that. Finally he just gave them a letter since apparently they were unable to proceed without his 'middle initial'...
No surprise for anyone that me and my brothers all have middle names (in fact I have two!)