Another Baby Naming Thread - Middle Names

[elrohwen]

I'm very curious about this - how important are middle names to you when choosing names for your kids?

When I think of baby names, I just think of the first name, so I'm always surprised when many people seem to pick out names as a first and middle name pair. I imagine we'll just put our first and second choice names together, or maybe go with a more unusual name for the middle just for fun. I never say my first and middle name together unless I'm at the DMV or something, so I never considered the importance of them sounding good together. I guess I just think that all first and middle combos sound good together!

So when you pick a middle name, do you pick it to sound good with the first name? Or do you just pick something you like regardless of the first name? Of course, some people also choose family names (we would give a boy DH's father's name as a middle name) which is understandable.

 

[indypitty]

We just had our first baby, and the middle name was very important to us, almost as important as the first name. Although as you said, first and middle names are rarely said together, it definitely mattered to me that the names sounded good together. I feel that a person''s name is such an important part of who they are, and I wanted one that reflected that. BTW, our son''s middle name is my grandfather''s middle name. We definitely weren''t dead set on using a family name, but it worked out that way!

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 12/29/2009 6:04:33 PM
Author: indypitty
We just had our first baby, and the middle name was very important to us, almost as important as the first name. Although as you said, first and middle names are rarely said together, it definitely mattered to me that the names sounded good together. I feel that a person''s name is such an important part of who they are, and I wanted one that reflected that. BTW, our son''s middle name is my grandfather''s middle name. We definitely weren''t dead set on using a family name, but it worked out that way!

I really like that way of describing it!

 

[neatfreak]

We chose our middle names so that they would flow well with the first and last. We picked something we liked but it wasn''t like we lost sleep over it for us!

 

[Kaleigh]

I think middle names are important. We chose family names for our kids'' middle names. Made sure it all flowed with the first and last of course.

DD is Ashley Crawford S....

DS Is Robert Haines S....

DD loves the name Crawford, and may make it a first name for one of her kids. If and when she has them, LOL!!!

 

[Kellybell]

Date: 12/29/2009 6:23:36 PM
Author: Kaleigh
I think middle names are important. We chose family names for our kids'' middle names. Made sure it all flowed with the first and last of course.

DD is Ashley Crawford S....

DS Is Robert Haines S....

DD loves the name Crawford, and may make it a first name for one of her kids. If and when she has them, LOL!!!

So cute!! We were visiting friends last weekend who have a nephew named Crawford...it is a GREAT first name. Very unique!

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 12/29/2009 6:23:36 PM
Author: Kaleigh
I think middle names are important. We chose family names for our kids'' middle names. Made sure it all flowed with the first and last of course.

DD is Ashley Crawford S....

DS Is Robert Haines S....

DD loves the name Crawford, and may make it a first name for one of her kids. If and when she has them, LOL!!!

I love your kids names! I really like the use of unexpected middle names. For some reason, half the girls I knew growing up had either Lynn or Marie as a middle name

I also remember people being surprised that my middle name was Kristin ... which isn''t an unusual name at all, just different from the two standards. I figure it''s the middle name, you might as well go with something cool that you wouldn''t necessarily pick for a first name.

 

[PinkTower]

My daughter''s middle name is my late father''s first name. I had no brothers, and like that his name was passed on.

 

[taovandel]

We had always said we were going to pick something non-traditional for a middle name (the two we were throwing around early on was Phoenix or Cruz) but we wound up using Alexander for a reason I can''t think of.

I think my husband just threw it out there one night while we were in bed thinking of names. He just blurted out Evan Alexander and it stuck. No real thought behind it...it''s not a family name. It just flowed together.

 

[E B]

I like using family names for middle names. Since our son has his father's last name (which is technically mine as well), we use names from MY side of the family for middles.

A lot of my family members have good, classic first names so we have many to choose from.

 

[KimberlyH]

Our daughter will have my mother-in-laws'' name, Katherine, as her middle name.; we picked the middle name first, because we both knew we wanted to pass down his mom''s name. If it were a boy he would have had either my dad''s first or middle name (it was his middle name at first, then my husband forgot and started saying the first name which sounded just as nice with the name we''d choosen and I didn''t care one way or the other). We''ll use the same name we picked for a boy for #2 and if it''s a girl she''ll likely have my grandmother''s name as part of her name.

 

[Clio]

We used family names. Each of the kids has a surname from my family as their first-middle (my maiden name, my mother''s maiden name, and my grandmother''s maiden name), and their second-middle is a name from my husband''s family (my MIL''s middle name, my SIL''s Vietnamese first name, and my FIL''s first name).

Middle names are very important to us - two of my kids go by their first middle-names.

 

[somethingshiny]

I consider middle names at the same time as first names. If I love a certain first name but I can''t get it to sound right with a middle name, it''s off the table. I realize that middle names are rarely used, but in my family, we use them a lot. JT is called "JT" or John Thomas, never "John." My nephew is actually called my his middle name and not his first name (not sure why...)

I like family names or virtuous names for middle names.

 

[Logan Sapphire]

We really debated our daughter''s middle name- we adopted her from Korea and didn''t know if we should incorporate any of her Korean name. I''m also a Korean adoptee but don''t have any of my original name. We ended up using her last name (which happens to be my original last name too) as her middle name, so now she has both of her mothers'' name as part of her.

DH really liked the name of a tv character (too embarrassing to name the show) so we''re using that as our son''s middle name.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 12/29/2009 8:35:04 PM
Author: Logan Sapphire
DH really liked the name of a tv character (too embarrassing to name the show) so we're using that as our son's middle name.

It can't be that embarrassing

I asked my mom why they chose my name and she said "It was really popular at the time. There was a main character on 'Remington Steel' with your name and I liked it"

Though I guess nobody my age has even heard of the show at this point.


I like reading everyone's middle name stories! For a girl I think I would pick something long-ish and feminine like Madeline or Vivienne. Our last name is kind of long, so I would want a shorter first name and the middle name would give me a chance to use something else I really liked. For a boy, we would give him DH's father's name to honor him since he passed away 6 or 7 years ago. I think my only rule for putting names together is that I don't like alliteration. So I wouldn't have James Jonathan or something. Otherwise I think just about everything sounds good together.

 

[musey]

I think of the name as a whole package.

Though to be fair, hubs and I have discussed the fact that we almost NEVER use or think about our middle names. Our future kids'' names need to sound good as a whole package, but for a while I lost sight of the fact that middle names are most often ignored, and discovered that a lot of my favorite name combos sounded great with the middle name in there, but awful without it. We had to toss a couple of our top first name choices because Firstname Middlename Lastname sounds great but Firstname Lastname is terrible.

In most cases, I don''t like mashing choice one and choice two together, because I''d rather have a middle name that sets off the first name nicely... especially since it won''t serve much of a purpose, otherwise. Besides, what if I use both choice one and two on daughter one, and then kid two also turns out to be a girl? Then I can''t go ahead and use my choice #2 on her!

 

[cellososweet]

Middle names are important in the sense that I want to make sure that the kid doesn''t have initials that can be made fun of. I could really like Frederic Ulysses, but with a last name of Kim, I don''t think those initials would be that great for our little one. Haha.

We''re about to have our first babe (a boy) and his middle name will be my Dad''s middle name. I liked it as a first name, but I wanted to make sure the baby didn''t have a nickname and if we named him Thomas, he''d inevitably be Tom or Tommy.

 

[elrohwen]

That''s a good point musey! Gotta save some names for the next kids.

Though I''m going to try to use the arguement with DH that if we pick a first name I like, he can pick whatever middle name he wants! (as long as it''s not Moonunit or something

)

 

[jcrow]

i''m hoping to either use a family name or a saint name for our LO''s middle name.

 

[Blenheim]

We chose to use a family name as the middle name, and are probably going to do the same for any future children. Which family name was partially a result of what name sounded best with the first name we''d chosen. We definitely considered flow. Unfortunately, a lot of the combos that we thought sounded great led to horrible initials, which is something else to think about.

 

[Octavia]

For us, middle names will be important because we want our kids to have one Anglo-American-type name and one that reflects DH's heritage. Also, the poor things will probably have two middles because I want my last name to be reflected in their names somehow, for ease of travel and such. But my last definitely doesn't make a "good" middle so we'll see whether we think they need a more real-sounding middle, too. I'm not a huge fan of giving them two middle names, but I don't want then to feel deprived when they hear their friends' nice, flowy full names.

 

[plantationcatt]

While we were dating in high school my now-husband and I had already picked out first and middle names for at least six(!)children. Weird, right?

Ex:
Boy''s name: (His middle name) (My maiden name)
Girl''s name: (Cynthiann: Combination of his mother and my mother''s names) (My mother''s maiden name)

Since my mother''s side of the family had all girls this generation and no one will be passing on the family name, it''s super important that at least on of my kids has that as a first or middle name.

My middle name is my mother''s maiden name, and his middle name is his father and grandfather''s middle name. Though, he is first-named after his mother''s dentist because she thought he was cute. Really.

As far as coordinating the first and middle names, as long as it doesn''t sound out like a cuss word or spell something horrible in the initials, it''s not a big deal to us. My sister-in-law is currently pregnant with a girl and is antagonizing over making the first and middle names "flow." I think it''s because she has friends that call their children as double names and she wants to match that.

Each to their own! I love hearing the stories behind people''s names--it''s so neat to have a legacy or tell a cool story about the person you''re named after. Of course, I also love old buildings because of the stories there, too, so maybe that''s just me

 

[4ever]

I always think of middle names which make the whole name "flow" well together.

My first and middle name are very short so growing up my mum some times called me by both when she was in a particularly good mood. Now my sister and BF do it too because the two names flow very well together, and I like that.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

About initials and what they can imply...

We are TTC (so this is all hypothetical

and one of the names we like for a girl would have the initials NGR.

Do you think that this is problematic?--are any words that could obviously be spelled (or inferred) out of that?





I''m white and my DH is black, does that make any difference in how you view the initials?

We thought of one potential problem (which is pretty obvious given the slant of my questions here

and are trying to figure out if that''s us being too sensitive or if it really would be an issue.

Thanks!

 

[pinkstars]

Date: 1/1/2010 12:58:54 AM
Author: Bella_mezzo
About initials and what they can imply...


We are TTC (so this is all hypothetical

and one of the names we like for a girl would have the initials NGR.


Do you think that this is problematic?--are any words that could obviously be spelled (or inferred) out of that?






I''m white and my DH is black, does that make any difference in how you view the initials?


We thought of one potential problem (which is pretty obvious given the slant of my questions here

and are trying to figure out if that''s us being too sensitive or if it really would be an issue.


Thanks!

I saw the initials and I immediately thought of something negative. I wasn''t sure if maybe I was being a bit sensitive though since I''m half black. So I had my boyfriend look at it and he thought of the same thing(he''s white.)


Referring to initials, I know someone who had a baby and she thought of the name before and let everybody know and the initials spelled out PEZ. Even after pointing that out to her she still named her child that. I think it''s nice that she''s so confident in the choice she''s made for her child''s name, but I can''t help but think that the child will be teased at some point.

 

[packrat]

When we were thinking of names, everyone told us to practice saying the whole name out loud b/c "you''ll be yelling it alot, and this is what your kid is going to hear" or something like that. I do notice that if I need to holler, if I''m trying to get their attention, I use first and middle names. I heard "MELISSA JO" yelled often when I was little. I''d think "Oooo she''s using my full name, I''m in trouble" haha!

I give all our animals middle names too-it just sounds nice I guess.

 

[somethingshiny]

Date: 1/1/2010 8:59:09 PM
Author: packrat

I give all our animals middle names too-it just sounds nice I guess.

I''ve always given middle names to pets too. I thought I was the only nut!

 

[packrat]

Date: 1/1/2010 9:07:34 PM
Author: somethingshiny

Date: 1/1/2010 8:59:09 PM

Author: packrat


I give all our animals middle names too-it just sounds nice I guess.

I''ve always given middle names to pets too. I thought I was the only nut!

bwhahaha and here I thought *I* was! Good to know there really are other weirdos like ME!

 

[fisherofmengirly]

We want first and middle names to sound well together, too. I don't think we would rule out a first name we really liked if we couldn't find a middle name we liked, though. When I was a kid, the way I could tell my mom was *serious* that I pay attention and/or do what she was telling me to was when my first and middle name got said at once. Haha, I think I'll end up doing that with my kid, and I don't want to think 12 years later that I made a poorly thought out choice.

***
ETA-- the middle names we like for girls are not exact names of our mothers, but represent them, because we feel that's special and a way of honoring them. Example- Paul's mom's middle name is Jane, our daughter might have Jayne as her middle name. My mom's nickname is Sue, so our daughter may have the middle name Suzanne, or first name Annaka (Anne is my mom's middle name).

Also, our pets all have middle names, too. My husband thought I was nuts when we were dating and I was trying to get my dog, Flip from tipping over the trashcan and I shouted, "FlipFlop Corona, stop that!!" (She is a Chihuahua born on Cinco de Mayo, so I felt I needed to incorporate her Mexican heritage into her name and Corona was all I could think of at the time.) Needless to say, all our pets have first and middle names now. Paul thought we'd be neglecting the others if they only had one name when Flip had two.

 

[elrohwen]

My bunny also has a full name. Lol. DH wanted to name him Leviathan

so we compromised on Otto the Leviathan (or Otto T. Leviathan). Haha. And I thought *we* were crazy!