How to Choose a Great Middle Name

Because my parents had rather sexist ideas about middle names, when the three daughters in the family finally proested and demanded them, we were allowed to choose our own.

As a result, when my son was born, I did the same thing, and when he was 23, after years of consideration, he finally chose a name that has great significance to him. But throughout those 23 years, when he would periodically come to me for my opinion on yet another possible choice, it made for some wonderful conversations between us, and a chance for me to know the inner workings of his heart; he wanted something with great meaning, and I got to hear why each name meant something to him...

He LOVED the process, and since we have the power to name our children without their consent, why not share that "power" and allow them to choose just one aspect of their naming?

What's in a name? It's what others call us because our parents said so...but when we allow our children to choose for themselves, there can be much more meaning, at least for them...and that matters.

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In the old generations of the Philippine cultures, middle names of children were automatically reserved for the maiden last names of the mothers. Example: John Doe married Jane Deer. They want to name their son Joseph. The full name of the child will be Joseph Deer Doe.
The reason behind this, I was told, is easy family recognition. In other words, anyone with last name of Deer or Doe is possibly related to Joseph Deer Doe.

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I have two grandsons who have the most adorable middle names! To me they sound regal or important. I don't think I'm being just a proud grandmother either! My Oldest grandson, who's 11, his middle name is "Wyatt" and his new brother's middle name is "Logan" which when you say their first and middle names together, sounds awesome!
The two loves of my life...Zachary Wyatt and Maxwell Logan (Last name will be our secret)

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I personally would not want my middle name to be the place where I was coneived. At graduation, there were some people who had random words as their middle names and trust me, the amount of laughter was an echo of when we were little and made fun of each other's names. My parents used my and my younger sister's middle names to solve a naming dispute between the two of them. My dad picked my first name and my sister's middle name. Mom picked my sister's first name and my middle name.

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Please, Please, Please don't give your babies "unique" or “made up” otherwise ridiculous names.
Right or wrong we are all judged by others for the name choices our parents make for us. You can’t trust other people to be fair minded. Someone in a position of authority, (perhaps interviewing your child for a job) who you may not trust to make a fair decision about your child, may assume your child was raised, and influenced by, stupid and or ignorant people. Your children will be the ones who suffer most because of your bad choice. If you’re one to say “I don’t care what people think” and you live by that principle, this may be your best opportunity to actually consider what other people might think.

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My middle name is "U" that's it U. It has been great. In my old home town I am always called John U Derived from my great grandfather who was also called John U. But his was name was really Ulrich. It is great in the phone book there are severl John's but not many, if any, with U. Old friends can find me easily.

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As the partent of 3 girls we took the oppertunity to have our 1st childs middle name to be similar to the grandmas(on both sides) name. They had the name of Mary and we went with Marie. Our 2nd child we wanted something different so we picked Paige. Our last child(who my husband was REALLY depressed wasn't a boy) got the middle name of Chevelle. He said if he wasn't getting a boy he at least wanted to be able to have a "car themed name" somewhere. Her aunt would always call and say....how is my little chevy? My husband loved that. I cringed. I do have to say that now I do like it. She will always have a conversation piece of a name.

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My middle name is Aleece, my dad wanted me to be named Alice after his mother, but my mom wasnt fond of that name, so she changed it to Aleece, and made it my middle name. It made everyone happy, and I love it.

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I have 2 boy's. My husband and I both wanted to pick "strong" names for them. My first born has a pretty common name, Eric because we named him after my husbands brother who passed away years ago and we felt it fitting to pass on his name to our son. His middle name is William after his Great Grandfather and Grandfather. Eric means "ruler" also helping us to make our choice because Eric is a strong name and also Scandanavian ( my husband is Danish). Our second sons name is Dane ( meaning, from Denmark) but also we feel a strong sounding name but yet at the same time not as common. For him I didn't want to go with what was "in" at the time for boy's names. His middle name is Soren, also Scandanavian, yet another tribute to my husbands roots. and we felt that Dane Soren went very well together. I believe in using family names for middle names are great and or using names that go with and sound good with the first and last name. I think both my boy's when grown will be happy and proud to have these names and be proud to tell people their whole name, first and middle. Most people I know, when I tell them my second son's whole name really love it and tell me they love that its somewhat different. I didn't want to use names that they would hate later on in life but be proud to have. I know alot of people, when you ask them what their middle names is, they don't want to tell you or won't tell you. Although I feel no one should be ashamed or enbarrassed by the name their parents gave them. Unless is some kind of odd ball crazy name, such as some celebrities use to name their children.....

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My daughter was adopted at birth and her middle name honors her birthmother's mother - who passed away when her birthmother was a child. It was really important for me to give her a name that had meaning to her birth family.

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