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Names: What’s in the middle?

  • By Aaron
April 30, 2015
Names: What’s in the middle?

Middle names. Some people have them; others don’t. The three-name structure we use today (given, middle and last name) began in the Middle Ages when Europeans wanted to give a child a saint’s name and a traditional family name, but middle name use goes back even further.

In ancient Rome, it was an honor given to important people to have multiple names. Later – in the 1700s – aristocrats began to give their children long names to indicate his or her place in society. For example, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.

Globally, Spanish and Arabic names often adopt paternal or maternal names from previous generations, helping to place a person in their family’s history, such as author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In some countries – such as China – middle names don’t exist.

While having multiple names is not new, it was only in 1835 that the term “middle name” first appeared in an 1835 Harvard University periodical, Harvardiana. It was only after World War I, that middle names became “official,” when the US armed forces enlistment form included a middle name field.

Middle names may also help in your family history research by offering important clues about your ancestors. When searching in census records, look for middle names as a first name or vice versa. For example, Rudyard Kipling’s full name is Joseph Rudyard Kipling.

Sometimes, names we think of as middle names are really double first names such as Mary Ann, or part of a last name such as Van Boden. Also, some people, such as Harry S. Truman and David O. Selznick have middle initials not linked to a middle name.

Does your family give middle names or not? Let us know in the comments below.

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  • Von Hanshaw

    April 30, 2015

    Yes my family gives middle names to everyone.

  • Glenn

    April 30, 2015

    My family used famiy last names for middle names. For instance my middle name is the last name of my great great grandmother. It was not usually a practice to use father’s first name as a middle name but I have heard of families that did it that way. Mine just happens to work out that way. My wife’s family doesn’t seem to follow a convention and she did a lot of the naming of our children.

  • Marie

    May 1, 2015

    Middle names!!!! Don’t even talk about it. My family seemed determined to give all of us (11 children) at least 2 middle names and always a mouthful. Often making female versions out of male names and visa versa and always named after other family member either deceased or living. Looking back through My Heritage at ancestors it seems that this tradition of a second middle name was very common. Who am I to talk? I gave our son 2 middle names too!

  • Julie

    May 1, 2015

    All the daughters in our family – way back for generations to before our family came across the sea to America – had derivatives of “Mary, Mother of God”. We have a Marie, Ann, Bernadine, etc. I have two middle names both derivatives of “Mary”. My daughters have Michele and Marie as their middle names, carrying on our family tradition.

  • Adrian R D Norman

    May 1, 2015

    Custom and practice differ from place to place and time to time, and also with religion and social class. Furthermore, titles before and after the given and surnames are recognised in many regimes. As genealogists with ancestors and families distributed across the world and many hundreds of years, we need to record and appreciate their importance. The same applies to place names and administrative regions where the conventions applicable in the USA, such as immutable state boundaries, are liable to mislead in Europe and Asia.

  • Ron Anderson

    May 1, 2015

    We had a tradition of using a rare surname, Rossander, as a middle name because it was thought that the surname Rossander had disappeared. My father and his brother had this name and my wife and I used it as well for our son. A few years ago when doing work on MyHeritage we discovered that a whole branch of the family existed with the rare surname. My great uncle changed his name by adopting his middle (Rossander) as his surname and now the name exists in greater numbers in Canada than existed in our ancestral home, Denmark.

  • Janice

    May 1, 2015

    The Scots had a very specific naming pattern. First son named after father’s father, second son after mother’s father, third son after the father – similarly with the daughters. First daughter after the mother’s mother, etc. But I did not know until recently that some of the middle names had a direct correspondence to a family member. For example, the 4th daughter could have first and middle name of her father’s eldest sister! There is more but too much to type here. But in my family – in more recent times – sometimes the first daughter was named after her mother and her grandmother (both first and middle names). First son named after the father but given the grandfather’s first name as a middle name. So it varies now quite a bit and sometimes everything just goes out the window and new names chosen. I like the idea of including the mother’s maiden name as a middle name for a child. In my Irish line they did that a bit.

  • Derek Tunnington

    May 2, 2015

    My father was Joe Tunnington. His father (my grandfather) was William Henry Taylor Tunnington . His father was John Taylor Tunnington, but before the mid 1800s he was simply John Taylor. The Tunnington having appeared for the first time in, I think the 1881 census. I have never discovered the reason for this change as all previous ancestors were Taylors. I suspect the discovery of illegitimacy at that time but have no proof. In my branch of the family, Taylor was dropped about 1900, but other lines kept Taylor until recent times.

  • Jan

    May 2, 2015

    My father was last of immediate family and fathered four daughters. No one to carry on last name “Royce.” My sister gave her son “Royce” as a middle name in tribute.

  • catherie cline

    May 3, 2015

    Yes, my family has middle names on back to the late 170o’s Usually it is the mother’s maiden name or sometimes grandmother’s. In one case, the 9th son was named for the stepfather who helped raise the baby’s grandmother, having already used father, grandfathers, great-grandfather’s names. I had a terrible time convincing another genealogist that this person actually WAS named for someone he was no blood-kin to( who happened to be kin to this gentleman) (?) The grandmother was 3 when he became her stepfather after her father had been killed by Inians, and was as much a part of the family as if he had been there form the start. No wonder they wanted to honor him wtht naming the baby for him! That othr gnealogist maintained his (stupid and wrong) position after I had mailed him phontos of the gravestone with the full name spelled out on it and the obituatry ( also all 3 names) from the local paper. There are also a son and several grandsons also named the same for him. There could not be a scentilla of a doubt of his full given name!

  • MaryEllen Hall

    May 3, 2015

    I do not have a middle name but society wants to give one since I have a double first name. All of my children (girls) have middle names to honor a family member both living and dead. My husbands family used middle names to honor Presidents and men of honor. Girls were given middle names that go back to a former surname in the family.

  • Janice Sue Ganus

    May 16, 2015

    My Family has used middle names for generations, and so has my husbands.

  • A. David Sarney

    June 12, 2015

    The “paperless” society has actually been a detriment to those of us who use our middle name as our “everyday name”. Many of the computer forms that are required to be filled out exactly state “first name”, “middle initial”, “last name”. My complete name is Arthur David Sarney (name after my dad Arthur Chester Sarney). Mom evidently didn’t like Chester and like David (pretty popular name in 1944). Up to 3 or 4 I remember being called “Arthur David” (to differentiate?), but that was a little strange and once I went to kindergarten just used David as that was what my family called me (and that’s who I became in my own mind). Now I’m faced with being either Arthur D. Sarney (not really me), David A. Sarney (not me at all and wrong), or A. D. Sarney which fits except that I get many calls asking for “A”– I guess from not close friends and/or not very bright phone merchants. As a former software engineer there is a very simple fix which I have yet to seem. Make a box that states ” I use my middle name”. Fill out the form as David A.. When the program sees the box filled, it will simply reverse the A. or Arthur with the David and the output name will become A. David or Arthur. The problem is I always have to look to see which way I’ve ended up and on “official” kinds of information it is really incorrect and on even less important the person checking their database has to be informed I “might be ” under A. David , David, or Arthur D. If anyone knows just what percent of us use our Middle Names. I think it’s more than most people would think as most people are unaware that some of their friends or associates do, but have never mentioned it in everyday conversation.

  • Patricia

    June 25, 2015

    I think my mother thought she wouldn’t have any more girls I have four names and I am known by the 3rd one. She subsequently had four more daughters

  • Elizabeth j. Jones Meyer

    June 26, 2015

    My name is Elizabeth Jane after my maternal grandmother. I was the
    first born.

  • Linda

    June 26, 2015

    I do have a middle name but no story. However, I did name all (5) my children after their godparent, my daughters and granddaughter have carried on the tradition.

  • mike

    June 26, 2015

    My two brothers and I have middle names but my sister didn’t why is that?

  • Antonio

    July 4, 2015

    In the Philippines, the middle name should be the mother’s maiden surname. The last name follows the father’s surname. All other names are first names. For example, if the legal name is Miguel Antonio Ruiz dela Arcangel, “Ruiz” is the middle name, which is the mother’s maiden surname. “dela Arcangel” is the surname or last name, which follows the father’s family name or last name/surname. “Miguel Antonio” is the first name or birth name or baptismal name where “Miguel” is the primary first name and “Antonio” is the secondary first name. He may write his name as “Miguel R dela Arcangel” or “Miguel Antonio R dela Arcangel” or simply “Miguel dela Arcangel”.