I agree with Kim also. Don't go back to James just because your mum got upset (not that you should disregard her feelings either, it's such a fine line!). But I agree with the others too, you can know someone very well for years and not know their middle name! If you want to use James, I can't see how it would be a problem. Is your sister okay with it?

Funnily enough, I love both those names, and if this baby is a boy, would have loved to call him Daniel as that is my Dad's name. But my DF doesn't like it because it reminds him of someone he really disliked from his childhood. But we are going to use it as a middle name. I would have loved James Daniel, but unfortunately DF doesn't like the name James either. He's so hard to please!