Middle Names

Uses:

1:Incorporating a saint's name into your child's title--useful for children who will one day be Confirmed.

2. Making it fun to be an angry parent (the middle name seems to make scolding more fun).

But why are they still around, really? Many times it's done in order to give a child their mother or father's name (usually the father's). But why does anyone bother to do that? Is that person going to go by the same name as the father? That's not always how it happens.

Case in point: My brother and cousin--both "thirds"--go by the nicknames Trey and Tripp. And after countless calls to university students in my job as an operator, I've learned that "Jr." or II" after a name often means that they go by the middle name or a variation of the first. For example, Edward Jay II would be more likely to be called Jay than Edward. With the sample of students I've been given, that's just so often the case. So this need to give our children names almost identical to our own serves little purpose other than to give them more to write when they're filling out a form. But then, they never even ask for your full middle name on a form, only the initial. I write it out anyway.

There's a possibility that, at least in the case of duplicate naming, a middle name offers some variety--a chance to shake up your image. It's a gamble. And if they choose to go by their middle name, the name that the parents chose first is lost.

Why give a name that will never really be used? Names like Mary Anne (not hyphenated, just used as one name) make sense. But Portia Elizabeth? Who's going to go to the trouble? Sure, the options are nice. She could go by Portia, Elizabeth, Beth, or Liz. Maybe parents aren't as controlling as I think, and middle names really are all about freedom of choice. But is it freedom of choice when having two "first" names imply that those are your options and nothing else? Who would go to the trouble of changing their name legally when they can settle for one of two and simply have to say, "I actually go by ___."

It's a waste. It's like buying someone two beautiful hats and saying they can only wear one for the rest of their lives. Sure, people might see the other hat and admire it, but it can never be enjoyed the way hats are meant to be enjoyed. I can't do anything with the "Anne" I'm saddled with. People don't seem to mind when I write it out on forms, because it's so short. It's not that I feel close to the name; it's the principle. It's there; I might as well use it somehow, some way.