For us, it was never an option at all. Samuel was always going to have a middle name.

A few reasons - we both do, so why shouldn't he? It's another option for him later in life if he decides he'd really rather not be Samuel or Sam.

Also - meanings behind names are really important to me. My username is what my first and middle names mean and that has pretty much described my life. Sometimes I do wish my parents had given me a name that would mean I was less likely to have to fight for everything!

The meaning behind Samuel's names... Samuel means "asked for" and comes from the bible. Samuel was the son of a barren woman who prayed for a son and never stopped believing she would have one. His middle name is Angus which means "chosen", "the only choice" or "posesses strength". All of which fit - his embryo was chosen as the best of the batch by our FS, and is likely to be the only one that will work, and the posesses strength part was VERY appropriate considering his stretching in utero, and how he fought through the days in special care.

And finally... Samuel, who mainly gets known as Sam... his middle initial is A, and our surname begins with M... So his initials are SAM - which we both liked. Once we'd decided on Samuel as a first name, we both decided that his middle initial had to be A and went from there.

BW