Both childrens middle names have been chosen out of respect for deceased family members - it was our choice both times and there was no pressure on us at all. DD's middle name is Kate, my grandmothers name was Katica (Croatian) so we angliscised (sp?) it to Kate. Alex's middle name is Ivan after DH's grandfather who passed away whilst I was pregnant.
If this baby is a girl chances are its middle name will be Marie or Maria after DH's grandmother who passed away a year ago, she was such a lovely woman and we miss her so much.
We have considered other names as middle names that were not family related, eg we both love the name Grace for a middle name, but in the end decided to go the family names. And they seemed to go ok with our chosen first names so it was no skin off our noses so to speak.
We chose middle names for the girls. For DD1 we chose my sister's name as she passed away from cancer a couple of months before I conceived. For DD2 we chose from MIL's name. Both sides of our family tend to pick middle names from family members, I was more than happy to keep that tradition going.
I like middle names, for many reasons. I like the history they give if they are named after someone. They are practical, I have known a few people who go by their middle name, rather than their first (my father for one), so I like the choice they give. I have worked in payroll and in process serving/repossession, anything that can differentiate a name, like a middle initial, can help with confusion over similar names. Someone is better off being John Roger Smith, than just John Smith when the repo man comes knocking and or when pays are being entered.
I love my full name, both first and second names. So I wanted my children to have middle names too.
We've given DS two middle names, his first middle name is to honour my family and the second DH's family (DH gets the last name on all the children, so I get the first middle name). It was never an option NOT to give DS one of two middle names. Should we have another son then we'll use the other name. A daughter would have two names from my family because DH doesn't have any female family names. And the names I've picked are gorgeous!
As Astrid said, it's a choice too: DS could decide to go by a different name and have some ready to go! I have an aunt who is known by her middle name.
I also look at the meaning of the name and how it flows with the other names. That's important to me too as I love the meaning of my full name!
DS's middle name is Stanyford. The first boy of each generation of DH's family has this middle name, DH has it, plus it is his grandfather's first name. DH is very close to his grandfather.
If we have a girl next time around, her middle name will be Paige. That's my sister's middle name.
If we have a boy next time around, his middle name will be Thomas. That's my father's middle name AND DH's father's middle name.
I love the middle name to have a family connection. For DD1 it was simple, both my mum and MIL have the same first name, so we used that. For DD2, I chose her first name so I let DH choose the middle name, which was his grandmothers first name. If we have a boy we will probably use my dad's name as DH wants to name a son after himself, which is also his dad and great grandfathers name.
For me - I like middle names to honour family members. DS's middle name Anthony is my DH's middle name and future children will also have a middle name that ties back with the family somehow (at this stage Joy is a definite if we have a girl after my deceased Nana). Funnily enough I use to hate my middle name as a kid, but have since grown to love it as I was named after a grandparent who I'd never had a chance to meet, and that to me is something special to link us I think.
I also agree with the middle name to differentiate it as well - I work in a bank and see so many people with the same first and last name - it's helped to keep them different by there middle name. Our last name is a rather common one (I remember one of the other staff served a girl with the same first and last name...at first I thought the staff member was looking in my bank details until I saw the middle name...lucky I'm a think before I act...could've easily gone over and given her a serve).
When my mum was in hospital having me the woman in the next bed lost her little girl during labour. Mum gave me her name as a middle name in honour of the little lost baby and visited the mum lots and "shared" me. They were still in touch years later when mum died.
When DD was born mum had been dead just over a year, and we gave her mum's name for a middle name. It is from the Latin for "alive" which describes both my mum's nature and DD's perfectly
DD's has 2 middle names - her first middle name is Claudia after DP's father Barry Claude and his grandfather Claude who are no longer with us (and we really couldn't inflict Claude onto a boy so Claudia was a nice option). Her second is my surname.
This time if we have a boy trhe middle name will be David or John after my father plus my surname. I'm not sure what we will do if we have a girl.
I never thought about why but because DP and I both have middle names we just automatically slected middle names for out children. A PP made a good point though - with so many people in the world it is likely that someone else will have the same first name and surname combination but it is less likely that they will have the same middle name as well so it does make them more identifiable.
DD1's middle name is Sophia - I really hope she grows in Wisdom.
DD2's middle name is Hope. She was born on a 9/11 anniversary so the name holds all our hope and longing for a more tolerant and harmonious world.
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What are your reasons for choosing a middle name?
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