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How to Choose a Great Middle Name
Filed under: Baby Names, Expert Advice: Pregnancy
No sooner had we declared the death of such old-style middle names as Ann, John and Marie -- mere connective tissue between the first name and the last -- than we started seeing the rise of a whole new generation of undistinguished middle names.
There are now officially enough little girls with the middle name Rose, thank you very much, and so, too, have we heard an awful lot of Grace, James, Claire, Lee and Rae for girls and Ray for boys.
Granted, middle names are not as important as first names, and may be rarely used after the birth announcements are printed. But that's no reason to default to whatever's easiest. In fact, the middle can be the perfect place to use a name that's more meaningful and distinctive than one you dare put in first place.
Here, some places to find distinctive middle names:
The Name Babes are Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, founders of Nameberry.com, innovators of baby-name content on the Web. Got a name craving? Learn more about baby names at Nameberry.com.
There are now officially enough little girls with the middle name Rose, thank you very much, and so, too, have we heard an awful lot of Grace, James, Claire, Lee and Rae for girls and Ray for boys.
Granted, middle names are not as important as first names, and may be rarely used after the birth announcements are printed. But that's no reason to default to whatever's easiest. In fact, the middle can be the perfect place to use a name that's more meaningful and distinctive than one you dare put in first place.
Here, some places to find distinctive middle names:
- Honor thy mother, thy father and thy great uncle. If your family is barging into the baby-naming act, make peace by using a family name in the middle. We used both our's and our husband's grandmothers' names as middle names for our daughter, for instance, and revived a great-great-grandpa's distinguished but eccentric name as our older son's middle name.
- Put a last name in the middle. Putting Mom's maiden name in the middle can be one good solution to the surname debates and a way to create family unity if both parents keep their original surnames. You can also revive a nearly-forgotten family surname as a middle name. Don't overlook ethnic choices such as O'Brien or DiMatteo that can make distinctive and meaningful middle names.
- Make the middle name a place name. Did you honeymoon in Tahiti? Harbor a lifelong love of London? A place with family meaning, that you visited or where your baby was conceived can make a good middle name.
- Pick a word, (almost) any word. Word names can make distinctive middle names. Obvious choices are True, Blue and Love, but other word name possibilities include nature names such as Lake and Pine, animal names like Fox or Lark, color names such as Crimson and Indigo, day names such as Winter or Midnight (both used by Nicole Richie) or spiritual names such as Answer or Peace.
The Name Babes are Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, founders of Nameberry.com, innovators of baby-name content on the Web. Got a name craving? Learn more about baby names at Nameberry.com.
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ReaderComments (Page 3 of 6)
4-21-2011 @ 8:14PM
fymayawf said...Whatever you do...DO NOT give a boy Wayne as a middle name. If you do he stands a greater cahnce of becoming a murderer! Think about it! John WAYNE Gacy? and there are plenty of thers.
Reply
4-21-2011 @ 8:27PM
MELBA ANN WILLIAMS said...O do lend me your ear~ My husband has the most gosh awful first name--& his parents called him by 2nd name which is also a surname.. then the surname. EVERYwhere he goes--even social security got it all messed up. He has a horrible complex over the ghastly first name when it says First Name Middle Innitial & Last Name. Name your baby a first name he will be called by and not an atrocious name.. Make it trendy... At an Appt they come out--call him by that first name--he wants to crawl under a chair....Major complex damage...
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4-21-2011 @ 9:41PM
Kitti said...Why hasn't your husband had his name legally changed, if his name is so terrible? I didn't like the name my parents gave me, so I had it changed legally to a name of my own choosing. My family met this with a lot of resistance, but so what? The bottom line is, THEY are not the ones who are labelled with a name they dislike and that they had nothing to do with. What is more personal than one's name? Why on earth would anyone walk around being known by a name they dislike? The legal process of changing one's name takes only a few months and can be done without a lawyer (that may depend on your state). Anyway, I don't understand why so few people think of the option of changing their name legally.
4-21-2011 @ 10:47PM
been there said...Changing your name isn't so easy if you have a job and an educational past and own property and have bank acounts, credit cards, ect, ect. If you are 18 years old and own nothing and will never need school transcripts, shot records, or any other legal record from your childhood and don't mind explaining the name change and carrying your paperwork and birth certificate everywhere, go for it.
4-21-2011 @ 8:35PM
Lauren said...For our daughter, my partner & I did not choose "traditional" names. We wanted something that reflected our daughter's personality & not just something to make anyone happy. Our daughter's name is Savannah Isabella & everyone loves her name. My partner & I are not fond of "uber-traditional" names & prefer more modern names like Savannah, etc, but not weird, like Pilot Inspektor, etc.
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4-21-2011 @ 8:39PM
meboles3 said...We used 'family names' as middle names for all 3 children and we're very proud that we did. It is an honor to us and our children!
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4-21-2011 @ 9:46PM
April said...My Name is April Aretta. Aretta being a different name, as I was growing up, I thought I was the only Aretta in the world except for my Aunt June Aretta. Needless to say, after getting on facebook I've come in contact with several of me. lol and we've started a Aretta's group. It's a great name and goes with many names. April
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4-21-2011 @ 8:49PM
Jane said...Heard too much of Rose and Grace? I named my daughter Grace for her middle name 16 years ago because in the Bible grace was a gift of God in Ephesians. Although I'm not religious, I have read the Bible before and thought that was really nice. "Tho it is by grace you are saved, and not of yourselves, it is a gift of God".
No name is ever heard too much. It means something to the person who gave it.
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4-21-2011 @ 9:14PM
robert said...GSanford.
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4-21-2011 @ 9:04PM
Susan said...Using a honeymoon or vacation place as a childs middle name can also backfire . I doubt my great niece would have liked being called Shannon Las Vegas even though she was conceived there .
Reply
4-21-2011 @ 9:02PM
smapplebee said...This article is rated I for IGNORANT. Have a heart. Do you love your child or do you want to make some stupid kind of statement? Give the child a first and middle name that fits well with the last name. Computers have a limited number of spaces for the first and last names. One space for a middle initial. .Do you want your child laughed at? I don't think so.
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4-21-2011 @ 9:10PM
A.V. Rob. said...How about middle names, that are picked, when confirmed? Do they count?
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4-21-2011 @ 9:08PM
robert said...icarly
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4-21-2011 @ 11:50PM
robert said...why should a parent worry about their child getting laughed at. There are mean kids in school, and kids need someone to go to, that is the parent, teacher or the principal. When you say that a child is going to give laugh at, you are showing lack of support for a growing mind. That Mean.
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4-21-2011 @ 11:48PM
dee said...My mom and dad picked a letter and gave me the middle name of "J" after my aunt Jocelyn and uncle John.. we carried it on to our daughter who has the middle name "B" after my mom Barb and dad Bob .....gets very confusing when people ask for full middle name and they keep saying not just the initial....it's unique and I have grown to like it :)
Reply
4-23-2011 @ 12:00AM
Hooper said...You could change the spelling to "Jay" and "Bee", that way you have a spellable (is that a word:) middle name!
4-21-2011 @ 9:55PM
Ann said...What's wrong with middle names like Rose, Grace, or Lee? My daughter's middle name is Grace, because she has a great-aunt named Grace and because my name means God's Grace. What's wrong with that? My son's middle name is Lee because Lee is both his paternal grandfather's and grandmother's middle name. My other son and daughter also have middle names that reflect people in their family tree, and if I ever had another girl I'd like her middle name to be Rose, after my mom who passed away 7 years ago. The author of this article may not necessarily like those names, but they happen to be family names for us, with real meaning. Also, they happen to be REAL names, not something thought of as 'cute' by the parents. And I totally disagree with the notion of naming your children after where they were conceived. That would be just too awkward to tell a child!
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4-21-2011 @ 10:03PM
Marilyn McCall said...Our daughter's first name is a family name but her middle name is Katharine. She was named for Katharine Hepburn with hope that she would be a strong and independent person as we were about 10 yrs older than most parents 30 yrs. ago. No fears-she is just that. Miss Hepburn saw her picture and wrote a few notes to her. Being southern she usually goes by both names......
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4-22-2011 @ 12:05AM
soulfulwhim said...When it comes to naming a child, family needs to butt out. Our parents got to name their children right? So why do they have to have input on naming our own? My husband left me when I was pregnant (divorced now). I named my son on my own with no family names and I gave him my maiden name. If I ever have a daughter I already have her named picked out granted my next husband agrees with it. I would like her middle name to be after my maternal grandmother. I didn't need any help naming my child. What upsets me to is the supposed name stealing. One of my sisters was upset that I had a picked out a girls middle name because if she has a girl she wants to use that name. I told her if she wanted to use that name then use it....but I had every right to use it too. Some people will keep their names to themself only to find out that a friend or family member is using their name and then that friend or family member thinks they stole it from them. People really need to get over it instead of being petty.
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4-21-2011 @ 10:37PM
Cindy said...My middle name is also Rae. My dad was Raymond, my daughter's middle name is Rae and my granddaughter's middle name is Rae. I love my name.
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