Middle name
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Many people's names include one or more middle names, placed between the first given name and the last name. In the West, a middle name is effectively a second given name.
Despite their relatively long existence in the Western world, the phrase "middle name" was not coined until 1835 in "Harvardiana", a school song of Harvard. Since 1905, "middle name" gained a figurative connotation meaning a notable or outstanding attribute of a person. This figurative use is especially popular in films (see "Quotes" in External links).
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Anglo-Saxon
Middle names are chosen by parents at the same time as the first name. Popular middle names are identical to those of first names, such as John, James, David, etc., with an emphasis on biblical figures (again, like first names).
In the U.S. and UK, a male's middle name is sometimes his father's first name. Alternatively, a male's first name may be the same as his father's, in which case the middle name may be used as if a first name so as to distinguish him from his father.
American Southerners are often referred to familiarly by both their first and middle names, such as Billy Joe and M.E. (Mary Elizabeth). Also, a substantial number of Southerners use their middle names in place of their first names, particularly if their first name is the same as their father's; this practice appears to be less common in other parts of the United States.
Some middle names sound antiquated because they are chosen from those of the family's ancestors, as the parents may have chosen them by glancing over the family tree.
Aside from the most popular middle names taken from first names, surnames (such as Hall or Walker) may also be taken as middle names, sometimes to commemorate a relative. For example, it is quite common to use the mother's maiden name as the middle name as a way to acknowledge the mother's (and maternal grandparents') family name.
Sometimes in popular references, only the first letter is used (e.g., John A. Macdonald), or the middle names are unmentioned (Herbert Hoover). Occasionally, while the middle is given in full, only the first letter of the first name is used (e.g., W. Somerset Maugham) or unmentioned (e.g., Woodrow Wilson).
Examples of multiple middle names: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor (Queen Elizabeth II), J. R. R. Tolkien, and V. V. S. Laxman. The English upper classes are traditionally fond of taking multiple middle names; this practice is hence often seen as pretentious.
Catholic
Males in Catholic communities (mostly Belgian, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish Catholics) are sometimes given what would otherwise be considered a female given name, especially the name Marie or Maria. In France, the most common case is to give a compound first name, such as Jean-Marie or, more rarely, André-Marie or Bernard-Marie; more rarely, Marie is used as third or subsequent given name. Sometimes the middle name is the given name of the child's godmother.
Hispanic females, conversely, sometimes have the middle name Juan. This is particularly common in Roman Catholic families, as a practice aimed at "divine protection" from both sexes (the male trinity and the Virgin Mary).
East and Southeast Asian
Sometimes the first syllables of Chinese and Korean given names are considered middle names, because they are positioned in the middle of a name (if the person has a two-syllable name), like Wong Shan-leung, where Shan is the "middle". This is technically incorrect, since many Chinese have only one syllable in their given name, so there is no middle position in their full name. Another possible cause for this misconception is due to the fact that (in Mandarin at least) each syllable is an individual word/character. (See Chinese name, Korean name, Japanese name)
Many Asian immigrants and Taiwanese personalities anglicize their given name and convert it to an authentic middle name, after a native English first name, such as James Chu-yu Soong and Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang (the second syllable of the middle name is officially not capitalized, but usually is in overseas Chinese names). If the Chinese given name has two syllables, it may be written as "two" middle names, especially Cantonese ones, such as Teresa Shan Leung Wong. There are also a minority whose Chinese given names are their first names, and have English middle names.
Vietnamese traditionally have middle names (chữ dem or chữ lót) that distinguish between the sexes. Over 80% of Vietnamese women have Thị (meaning "woman") as their middle names. There are more male middle names, such as Văn ("scholar"), Hữu, Duc, Đình, Xuân, Ngoc, Quang, and Cong. The Nguyen royalties' middle names are from a generation poem. Vietnamese middle names are often not used now, especially among males. In a 1988 study, 22% of Vietnamese males have no middle names.
South Asians
South Asians, particularly Indians, generally take their fathers' first names as their middle names. After South Asian females marry, they change their middle names to their husbands' first names.
Sikh males, who for religious reasons are supposed to be named Singh (meaning "lion"), usually as their surname, sometimes instead take Singh as their middle name.
External links
- Generation poem (http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nguyen_royalty_generation_poem) of the Nguyens
- Chữ lót (http://wiki.uclavsu.org/?id=ch%E1%BB%AF+l%C3%B3t), from ViệtWikica:Nom del mig