Why middle names are fun?
Posted by Ethameiz@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 174 comments
I am from country where we don't have middle names. In US movies I often see that people are embarassed of their middle name and trying to hide it because others will make fun of it. Why it is fun? And why it is hidden if name is part of public info?
AdelleDeWitt@reddit
It's not that it's fun. People use middle names for all sorts of things. Sometimes it is your mother's maiden name, or sometimes it is some ancestor that you're named after. That means that your middle name can be kind of weird. Occasionally also girls will have masculine middle names and boys will have feminine middle names, which can also lead to teasing. When I was a kid, just about every girl either had the middle name Ann or Marie, and that wouldn't be something anyone would make fun of, but if your middle name was burkowski or something, you might be kind of embarrassed in a sea full of Anns and Maries. Or if you are a boy your name is Timothy and your middle name is Margaret, kids might laugh about that.
Middle names also are sign that you're in trouble. If your Mom is calling you by your phone name, including your middle name, you really need to do what she says right now because she really fucking needs it.
shnanogans@reddit
It’s common for middle names to be an old-fashioned name to honor a great aunt or something. Because of this, they can sound really outdated or weird. My dad thinks his middle name, Alvin, is super geeky. it’s his grandpa’s name but is pretty old fashioned now and also evokes Alvin and the chipmunks
Vast_Reaction_249@reddit
I go by my middle name. My dad and I are both named Robert.
SpiritOfDefeat@reddit
They mostly get used by scolding parents who are angry at their child misbehaving, or on government forms where your full name is required. I wouldn’t say that most people are actively trying to hide their middle name, but it’s just not a super relevant thing for us in daily life either.
Kitchen-Lie-7894@reddit
My wife gave all of our dogs middle names so she could use all 3 when she gets mad at them.
ToddMath@reddit
This video made me want to give my cats a few extra names.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2782574178567700
tangledbysnow@reddit
We gave our two male dogs my very feminine middle name as we thought it was incredibly funny to yell at them when being naughty. It works.
Kestrel_Iolani@reddit
Yup. My in laws have a dog "Prince Hairy" but recently we decided that his full name was Harold Faltermeyer Kobayashi.
tangledbysnow@reddit
We gave our two male dogs my very feminine middle name for both of them because we thought it was funny to yell it at them when they were being naughty. It works!
EloquentBacon@reddit
One of our cats is named Maizy Rose. Her having a first and middle name has been helpful as she loves to cause all kinds of trouble.
iARTthere4iam@reddit
My cat Luke had two middle names. Duke and Skywalker.
elphaba00@reddit
All of my cats have the middle name of Jay. It's a long-running Simpsons joke in my house
marypants1977@reddit
We must think alike. My cat was Professor Mittens Jay Flanagan.
SpiritOfDefeat@reddit
Dude that’s priceless! I respect it.
SuLiaodai@reddit
Yes -- if you hear a parent calling a child by their first, middle and last name, they're in really big trouble.
jda404@reddit
lol yep I knew my mom was mad and I messed up when she threw in my middle name.
SpiritOfDefeat@reddit
The scariest thing that you can hear as a child ☠️☠️☠️
DerekL1963@reddit
Especially when spoken with that slow intense cadence that every parent seems to know instinctively.
"Carl Robert Smith" is concerning. "Carl. Robert. Smith." equals "oh fudge."
esk_209@reddit
There’s a VERY funny line in Agata All Along about this. One character is just known as “Teenager” (Teen). In one scene someone angrily calls him Teenager and another character says, “oooo she used your full name!”
BirdieAnderson@reddit
Luckily all serial killers have a middle name.
Lower_Neck_1432@reddit
Because when the police record is listed, it lists all names. That's why criminals are identified by their first-middle-last names.
TheOwlMarble@reddit
Middle names often come from a family member. In my own case, my middle name is my father's given name, so calling me by it is weird and I won't respond to it because I subconsciously think you're talking to my dad.
In my case, that name isn't particularly outdated, so it doesn't sound weird to modern ears, but a lot of times someone can get a middle name in honor of a grandparent, so you end up with very dated names that feel wrong and may be embarrassing.
ChloricSquash@reddit
When you say generation locked you're meaning peak names today won't be in 20 years. They'll fade back for Bertha, Nora, and Betsy to take the reigns again?
TheOwlMarble@reddit
Possibly. Some come back into fashion eventually, but others won't.
ChloricSquash@reddit
Pretty sure Adolf isn't making a resurgence for a long while
Lower_Neck_1432@reddit
Probably not the German form, but Aldolpho exists.
Key-Mark4536@reddit
We’re not getting many new Karens or Chads either.
Key-Mark4536@reddit
Many of them will fade, but for how long and which ones will come back is anybody’s guess. If you have a minute, skim through the Social Security Administration’s top baby names by year and see what stands out.
Jessica and Jennifer dominated the 90s, and those are standard enough names I suspect they’ll eventually come back. Madison from the early 2000s, that I suspect was a product of its moment.
(And of course Karen peaked in the 60s.)
No-Clerk-5600@reddit
Nora's back. I know a few.
IHaveALittleNeck@reddit
This is changing though. You see a lot of people using family names whether they are old-fashioned or not. Then again, I once taught a Champagne so it’s a range.
goblin_hipster@reddit
Oftentimes, a middle name is used to honor an older family member, or the mother's maiden name, or something like that. So it's not like a typical name. Sometimes they sound old-fashioned and unusual. And kids tease others when it comes to anything unusual.
Sinrus@reddit
A boy in my class in elementary school had the middle name Kelly because it was his mom’s maiden name. But he was an 8 year old boy with a girl’s name in his name, which is tantamount to a playground death sentence.
smapdiagesix@reddit
Kelly is unisex with a bias, like Leslie, Jamie, or Dylan.
sh1tpost1nsh1t@reddit
It seems most names in the U.S. move from male to unisex to female. Almost never the other way around.
Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit
I never thought about it but you’re right. They usually do tend toward female. Dale is one of the few that went from unisex to mostly male.
Sinrus@reddit
Can't say I've ever heard of a man with the name Kelly.
shelwood46@reddit
Being 59, I went to school with numerous male Kellys.
DrBlankslate@reddit
I've known three.
smapdiagesix@reddit
Kelly Johnson, sort of founder of the Lockheed skunk works, is dead but is probably the most famous male Kelly.
tangledbysnow@reddit
I know several all under 50. The one that trips me up is a man named Beverley. He is a Boomer generation so definitely older but that one took some getting used to.
grawmpy@reddit
I have known two men named Kelly
girkabob@reddit
My last landlord was named Kelly, he's probably in his late 50s.
ProfessionalAir445@reddit
I had the opposite experience. I grew up with a boy named Kelly and was confused by Saved by the Bell, lol. It was reinforced by their being another boy in my class named Kellen.
shelwood46@reddit
And sometimes it's literally a joke, like Hugh Mungo Grant.
JohnMarstonSucks@reddit
Definitely a way to pass on a family name. My middle name is my grandfather's middle name and I gave the same to my son.
grawmpy@reddit
I was named directly for my great grandfather who had a very unique name. And no, I am not going to say what it is.
BenjaminGeiger@reddit
My family has a tradition of naming a man's first grandson after him.
I was my paternal grandfather's second grandson, but my maternal grandfather's first grandson. So, my first name is from my maternal grandfather and my middle name is my paternal grandfather's first name.
NickFurious82@reddit
Not embarrassed by my middle name, it's pretty normal, although not as much these days. But I gave my middle name to my son as his middle name. And I got my middle name from my dad, because it was his middle name. He got it from my grandpa, because it was his first name, and was the first name of his father before him.
I like that my dad, myself, and my son all have our own first names that were picked because our respective parents liked them. They aren't tied to any tradition. But we share a lineage through our middle names. It's sort of that whole "You give your kids roots and you give them wings" sort of thing.
Cratertooth_27@reddit
That’s what I did with my son. Wanted to name him after my grandfather but didn’t think Erminio would work as a first name
Aromatic-Leopard-600@reddit
I have 2. Honoring my grandfather.
nocranberries@reddit
I never really understood why some people are embarrassed by their middle names either, but I'm probably biased because I don't hate my middle name. I actually kind of like it and tend to get compliments on it when it comes up in conversation. It's not a common middle name and flows really well with my first and last name.
I think most of the people who don't like theirs have either a super common "boring" one, or an old-fashioned "nerdy" one. Or just have bad memories of being called by their full name by a parent during punishment.
Lady_Alisandre1066@reddit
My experience has been that middle names are often where you stick the family name you secretly hate but are duty bound to pass on.
PerfectlyCalmDude@reddit
In addition to what's been shared, another answer to "why is it fun?" is that it works. For instance, if your mother doesn't normally call you by your first and middle name, and she starts doing that, then you have messed up (or she was made to believe that you did). And everyone watching the show or the movie knows that, so it drives the story.
And a less fun example that worked was in Saving Private Ryan when they found the wrong guy.
Poi-s-en@reddit
There’s a guy I know of who only goes by their middle name Niel and hides their first name Jeffrey. I’ll let you take a guess what his last name is.
Rockandroar@reddit
Dahmer or Epstein or Jones?
Poi-s-en@reddit
It’s Dahmer
TheCloudForest@reddit
Because middle names are not used that often except on legal documents, etc, there can be an air of mystery about them, even when dealing with close friends. And again, because they aren't mentioned that often, parents often use them as an opportunity to dump in a awkward-ish name, like one that's a family tradition or in homage to someone but not really a people or current first name. This can result in sort of odd middle names.
omnipresent_sailfish@reddit
I have friends who gave their son the middle name of Trygve or something because of a Norwegian grandparent. Kid probably gets made fun of a lot for it
Bridey93@reddit
I've even seen it as a first name. All kids in that family ended up with Norse names, multiple generations.
TruckADuck42@reddit
How do you even pronounce that?
royalhawk345@reddit
It's phonetic, exactly how it looks. Although it's usually spelled Trygve.
clingklop@reddit
As if the alphabet matches the phonemes in English
WaldoJeffers65@reddit
Throatwarblermangrove
theshortlady@reddit
Mr. Luxuryyaght, is that you?
The_Bjorn_Ultimatum@reddit
Trigvuh
PoolSnark@reddit
How do you pronounce Trigvuh?
The_Bjorn_Ultimatum@reddit
"Trig" like the math subject.
"Vuh" rhymes with duh.
PoolSnark@reddit
I thought it was trig like my Italian friend Luig (the “g” is soft Luke a “j”) and my Vietnamese friend Vuh (rhymes with “you”)
Hot_Aside_4637@reddit
sounds like an r/tragedeigh
MrsFannyBertram@reddit
I live in Minnesota and Trigve feels pretty normal here lol
huazzy@reddit
Korean-American here.
My middle name is technically my Korean name and non-Koreans butcher it so badly that it's better off being unknown.
Roughneck16@reddit
Lots of Asians who emigrate to the US adopt Western names to assimilate better and because Americans can't pronounce their Asian names.
My roommate who worked in Taiwan adopted a Chinese name for the same reason.
KingOfTheNorth91@reddit
I worked in fast casual dining for a while and had to ask people for their names on their orders. One thing I found interesting was a lot of Asian women who adopted western names chose names that I would consider pretty dated (Joann, Margaret, Betty, etc). Not saying this is a bad light - everyone should choose whatever they like! I just was intrigued by that pattern I noticed. Guys names were pretty modern I guess , with lots of Kevin’s specifically
huazzy@reddit
In terms of Koreans (and other Christian Asian-Americans), many have biblical names. Names like Sarah, Miriam, Lydia, Esther, Hannah, Ruth, etc are very common. With men being Samuel, John, Matthew, Steven, Paul etc.
Burial4TetThomYorke@reddit
Kevin Nguyen is a popular meme name / character / trope among viet Americans, from my understanding
huazzy@reddit
It's not the only reason. We gave my daughters "Western" names along with their Korean ones (which they use as middle names) to reflect their different identities/backgrounds.
Roughneck16@reddit
Is your wife also Korean American?
huazzy@reddit
She's Korean Korean.
Roughneck16@reddit
My friend (born in Korea, left as a little kid and grew up in Utah) told me he returned home as a teenager and ran into trouble because he kept using informal Korean when talking to older adults.
“Hey, don’t you talk to me like that!” 😠
“Uhhh sorry, I’m actually American!” 😅
“Oh that makes sense.” 😏
MattieShoes@reddit
I don't know why, but that made me laugh so hard :-D
sgtm7@reddit
I lived in Taiwan for two years. I was told by my Taiwanese acquaintances, that they pick an English name once they become an adult.
huazzy@reddit
With that said, it doesn't relate to me but I know people whose Korean names are things that English speakers would definitely mock.
Young Ho (also the name of the current Atlanta Falcons kicker)
Yoo Suk
Es Hol
LongjumpingStudy3356@reddit
IDK where you got Es Hol from, but it is phonologically impossible in Korean. Korean syllables cannot end in -s (if an -s appears in writing, it's pronounced -t rather than as an -s sound at the end of a syllable).
huazzy@reddit
You should know very well that Korean names don't always get phonetically written out correctly. Example : All the last names, Kim, Park, Choi, Lee, etc.
Maybe I should have written it Eh Sol but its 애솔.
But phonetically it's the same gist.
huazzy@reddit
You should know very well that Korean names don't always get phonetically written out.
Maybe Eh Sol makes more sense, but its 애솔.
Which is still phonetically the same gist.
tangledbysnow@reddit
Peniel Dong Shin from BtoB and he’s Korean American! There’s a very funny clip of him complaining about his name as his sister’s is Jennifer Natalie Shin.
Pete_Iredale@reddit
I worked with a Vietnamese dude named Dung Tran once. Needless to say, he went by Tran in the US.
PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit
My ex-wife swears she went to school with a Vietnamese kid named Phat Dong. I've never quite believed it but it's a weird world.
GoodQueenFluffenChop@reddit
I'm Latina and same with mine. Worse it's in honor of my beloved grandmother and I have how any English accent makes it sound. I only use my middle name when I know the people around me can pronounce it properly.
Squigglepig52@reddit
I only use my first name for government stuff, I go by my middle name.
grawmpy@reddit
Same here
Git_Off_Me_Lawn@reddit
This is what we did with our kids. My oldest son got my middle name, my father's middle name, my paternal grandfather's middle name, etc, but everyone else has a middle name that's the first name of someone else in the family that's important to us and passed on.
No names that are too weird, unless I can sneak Ebenezer in as our next kid's middle name, but middle names like Hiram and Lester aren't exactly common and might seem weird now.
Heykurat@reddit
I'm a woman and my middle name is one letter off from a word that means "masculine". Yeah, I hid that as a kid. But it's an old family name.
WritPositWrit@reddit
In reality everyone I know has middle names like Anne and Marie and Michael and Joseph, etc …. But some kids have middle names that are awkward family names or family surnames, a boy might have a middle name like Allison or Marion, which is a family name but sounds like a girl’s name, and so they would be teased. But this doesn’t really happen very often.
shelwood46@reddit
I have a bit of a reverse uno, my father gave me a middle name after his father, which was Leslie. At the time, that was very much solely the male spelling of that name (women were Lesley) so pretty much until Parks & Rec I was horribly embarrassed by it (also, ripe for playground teasing). I'm fine with it now.
Lamballama@reddit
My middle name is from an old time celebrity (think more like Edison and less like Cher). My nieces and nephews all carry my grandparents names as their middle names. So it's very flexible
unolemon@reddit
I am the Gen X daughter of hippie boomers and I named my daughters male leaning androgynous first names and very girly middle names. The first names were because that name on a resume matters. And having a male name might get you an edge on an interview. And the second so they had a choice. If they wanted to go by their middle names, that was fine. Unfortunately almost 30 years later those names on the resume still matter.
Gomdok_the_Short@reddit
A lot of middle names are names that have been passed down in the family and are no longer fashionable, or are kind of unconventionally, or may be the mother's maiden name.
Tiny_Ear_61@reddit
Too many memories of schoolyard ridicule.
My full first and middle name is Christopher John. I spent third grade being called piss-in-the-John.
amaturecook24@reddit
My husband has a middle name that was passed down since his great-great grandfather. He finds it a bit embarrassing because it is obviously an old name.
Kids are mean. Poking fun at an odd name is sorta common. Although I’ve grown to love his middle name and really don’t want to end the tradition if we were to have a son.
But yeah entertainment tends to over exaggerate things that can and do happen, but rarely as often as these shows and movies make it seem.
Savings-Wallaby7392@reddit
A huge amount of Catholic Americans have two middle names. Asking their confirmation name is more interesting as they actually picked that name themselves.
Rockandroar@reddit
Knowing nothing about catholicism, would these Catholic Americans then legally change their name to include their confirmation name?
rawbface@reddit
Before 9/11, I had my confirmation name on my passport..
theshortlady@reddit
I've never used my confirmation name.
TipsyBaker_@reddit
Rarely, but it does happen. I've known it to happen most among older women, by which i mean born in the 20s and 30s. I'm going to go ahead and assume it is because so many had one of a handful of first names.
When half of your class is named Mary it makes sense to drop it, bump the middle to first, and stick the confirmation in the middle. It's also the one place you could get away with a mildly ethnic name in the 50s, 60s, 70s.
ProfessionalAir445@reddit
In my experience we all pretend our confirmation name is part of our legal name for about 3 years and then forget about it completely.’
And then years later when all the former Catholics in your punk rock group of friends are discussing their confirmation names, every single girl will have picked Joan of Arc due to being the most badass.
For those few years though I literally used the whole thing. I was FirstName Julie Joan of Arc Lastname.
IHaveALittleNeck@reddit
The number of kids who tried to use Madonna and ended up with Mary in the 80s is comical.
ProfessionalAir445@reddit
My favorite was the people who picked a saint with the same name but then used it twice anyway.
My cousin was Joan Middlename Joan Lastname lol.
A friend of mine was FirstName Ann Anne Lastname.
OptatusCleary@reddit
I know of people who were basically forced to do this. If your name was Joan or Matthew you had to pick Joan or Matthew, thereby becoming “Joan Elizabeth Joan Smith” or “Matthew David Matthew Garcia.”
organic_bird_posion@reddit
Nope. But you have to remember that the Catholic Church is running a parallel child / life documentation system that predates the secular legal one: baptism certificates were the original birth certificated. You can get legally married but not married in the church.
Government records supplanted those church records as the "official" record.
BenjaminGeiger@reddit
The church was basically the original government. Tithes were income taxes, for instance.
Sl1z@reddit
No, in my experience you just pick the name of a saint and write an essay about the saint. I’ve never heard of anyone actually changing their legal name to match the confirmation name. But the church gives you a certificate/paper with the date of your confirmation and the name is on it.
IHaveALittleNeck@reddit
My mother did because she never had a middle name to begin with. Her first name is double-barreled and she always hated not having a proper middle name. So she legally added her confirmation name when she married at 19.
OptatusCleary@reddit
There is a huge amount of variance on confirmation names: some parishes don’t do them at all, some parishes let you choose any saint, some parishes only let you choose one of your first name isn’t already a saint’s name, some ask you to choose one of your godparents’ names, and some have other limitations on what saints you can choose.
trustme1maDR@reddit
No. My dad was not given a middle name at birth, but he uses his confirmation name as his middle name. He never changed it legally, he just tells everyone that's what it is. I personally never use my confirmation name but I'm a lapsed Catholic and I was already given a middle name.
Low-Cat4360@reddit
This is also true for a significant number of Southerners. We traditionally have two names, and a ton of us don't go by just first or just middle name. If your name is Taylor Reed Smith, it's completely normal to by Taylor Reed, and to correct anyone who only uses one of the names when speaking to you
WokestWombat@reddit
Most Latinos also have 2 middle names from birth. My girlfriend has 2 middle names and 2 last names.
VLA_58@reddit
When an American parent calls out their kid using all three names (first, middle, surname) everybody knows that you are in deep shit.
Svenray@reddit
American names have a tendency to age and middle names are commonly after a grandparent.
A teenager doesn't want people to know their name is Hayleigh Mildred Jones or Liam Archibald Jones
alldaylong4u@reddit
My great nephew's middle name is, I kid you not. Danger!
GirlScoutSniper@reddit
When your mom used your full name, you knew you better come in for dinner!
GuitarEvening8674@reddit
My oldest daughters middle name is her great grandmothers first name, my other daughters middle name is my paternal grandmother's last name. My son's middle name is the last name of one of his grandfathers.
tn00bz@reddit
The only way to banished a demon is by knowing their true name... if you know someone's full name... its like you have control over them.
But in all seriousness, middle names mostly fall into two catagories:
Totally lame filler names i.e. Lee, Marie, Rose, etc.
Important family names that wouldn't be great first names. Mine is Douglas. It's my grandma's maiden name. Being called "Doug" would suck...so it's my middle name. I've learned the history behind the name and it's actually totally sick though.
dcgrey@reddit
I'd say it's because every name has a perception to it, so when you throw in another name, it tweaks the perception in a way that can't help but make you laugh, like a little surprise or the way a pun works.
Francis Shea turning into Francis Avril Shea is a little funny.
Also, middle names to me are the highlight of high school graduation ceremonies. There's a good chance it's the first time any of your classmates have heard your full name. Al Smith being announced aloud as Aloysius Ignatio Smith is a great surprise.
BenjaminGeiger@reddit
I remember there being a gag in a TV show where one of those dim-but-lovable sidekick characters who is only known by a nickname graduates from high school, has their full name announced, and doesn't recognize it themselves. I just don't remember which show it was.
I thought it was Growing Pains, but that was a different gag: Boner (Richard Milhous Stabone) paid extra to have his name on his diploma listed as "Boner Stabone".
dcgrey@reddit
Just brainstorming on the sidekick...
Screech?
"The Todd" from Scrubs and it's medical school graduation instead of high school?
gothiclg@reddit
I’m in trouble with a parent or filling out legal forms if my middle name is being used. They’re not that fun really.
iARTthere4iam@reddit
My middle name is my dad's name. I'm fine with it.
Onahsakenra@reddit
My experience has been quite different. A large number of people I grew up with and know went by/go by their middle names, and we didn’t really hear their first names unless it was super formal occasion etc, so the opposite of the stereotype and what you describe from movies lol. But I think it’s more common in south or regional? This is just my experience, idk for sure. Also, many people are named after parents or relatives, so if a boy is named Robert after his dad then his family will often call him by his middle name instead, so he might be called Michael or Mike for short when his name is Robert Michael.
anotherblue@reddit
I have had a coworker who went by his middle name, because his first name was very old-timey (imagine "Reginald John Stevenson", he just went as "John Stevenson"...)
runicrhymes@reddit
Yeah, my brother is named after our dad but goes by his middle name.
MaddoxJKingsley@reddit
I've never been to the South, but it sounds like naming kids after other people (particularly boys) is a lot more common down there since it's more traditional, so using middle names would subsequently be more common.
IHaveALittleNeck@reddit
I have used my middle name as my first name professionally since I was 15. Most of my credit cards/bank accounts just have my middle name + last name. You can tell where someone knows me from but what they call me. School friends use my first name. Everyone else uses my middle name.
MattieShoes@reddit
I don't think middle names are inherently embarrassing -- they're just something we usually don't identify with because the only time they get used is on official documentation and when your mom is VERY mad at you.
Sometimes they're embarrassing because they're family names that sound very old timey.
Shannoonuns@reddit
Not American but British. Middle names often honour a grandparent and grandparents have funny old people names :') Or sometimes parents will hide a weird name in there that they were too embrassed to use as a first name.
So kids would have normal first name and either an old fashioned or weird middle name.
Like my brother had a friend called clemence (clem for short because clemence is a bit weird in itself) and his middle name was melchior which is even weirder.
at school everyone would panic whenever somebody got a hold of the register and found out everyone's middle names because people would often have a modern first name like liam but an embrassing grandad name for a middle name like alfred.
FreeTuckerCase@reddit
I didn't know other people disliked their middle names as well, until this post.
American here, and your description is spot on for me.
So I not only learned that it's not uncommon to dislike one's middle name, but I also learned the reason why middle names tend to be disliked - all in the span of about a minute.
Shannoonuns@reddit
Bless you 🤣 My parents gave me a good middle name so I was fine. Melchior is dreadful though, poor boy.
If you want to feel less alone Google Hugh grant's and Boris Johnson's full names, brits are great at terrible middle names.
blipsman@reddit
Middle names are often used to name people after dead relatives, who may have had funny old-timey names or foreign names, etc.
biddily@reddit
My middle name is my mother's maiden name.
People always guess using first names. No one will ever guess it. Jokes on them.
My mother never changed her last name to my dads last name and thought hyphen names were dumb. This was the solution. My siblings and I all have the same middle name.
dear-mycologistical@reddit
Middle names are often "honor names," i.e. the name of a family member such as a grandparent, which means they often feel dated or awkwardly old-fashioned to the person whose middle name it is.
ncsuandrew12@reddit
"Why do people try to hide their middle names?"
*don't even mention what country you're from*
Anyway, I'm guessing you're asking why middle names are subject to mockery ("fun" probably is not the correct translation).
The answer is that they generally aren't. Some people are embarrassed by their middle names, but this doesn't apply to most people. Movies do not reflect reality. On the occasion that someone is embarrassed by their middle name, it's usually because the name is typically associated with the opposite sex or is otherwise very unusual as a name.
Aside from embarrassment, some people won't want to divulge their middle name in certain contexts (e.g. online) because it's very identifiable. For example, there are at least three people in the US with my first and last name. But I'm fairly certain that I'm the only US resident (and possibly the only person in the world) with my first, middle, and last.
Also, middle names are "public" information in the sense that they're often on public records, but that doesn't mean they're really public in social situations. I don't know the middle names of most of my friends. If they didn't want me to know them, I would probably never find out, because looking it up in some public record would be a creepy thing to do.
Also also, while this is less true these days, information might not be as "public" as you think. A former roommate of mine literally learned his mother's first name at her funeral when he was in his 40s because she went by a different name his whole life and even had it on her driver's license.
cruzweb@reddit
Nailed it. My brother has an old family name as a middle name, but in modern society it's become gendered as a woman's first name. Without that name his name is the same as that of a big movie star, so he's in the "I take my middle name to my grave" camp.
typhoidmarry@reddit
I’ve got a friend who legally changed her middle name to “Happy”
Love it!!!
elphaba00@reddit
Probably the same thinking that gave my grandma the idea to give my aunt the middle name of Gay.
John_Fx@reddit
It's like learning a secret about people you know well.
SinfullySinless@reddit
I wasn’t supposed to have a middle name as it’s more of a Christian baptizing thing. My Catholic grandma would not allow my mom to not give me a middle name lol.
Dawashingtonian@reddit
a lot of other people have mentioned that middle names are rarely used but i want to point out that this fact sort of makes middle names feel like a secret and therefore are kind of fun. it’s just a piece of information that most people don’t know about each other simply because there’s no reason it would come up naturally. so as you get to know each other you might get curious. how people react to having a bit of “secret” information is always funny. some people want to hold onto the secret and never tell even though the middle name is just like “James” or something. others want to immediately tell everyone. it’s just kind of a funny human condition thing IMO
hornbuckle56@reddit
Very popular in the mid 80s for for boys to go by their middle names. Not sure why.
not_doing_that@reddit
I believe they started bc in the olden days they thought if the fae knew your true name they could kidnap/command you, so they were always secret so no kids could be stolen
Im too lazy to fact check myself but I also like that theory
Squigglepig52@reddit
Actually, I go by my middle name, not my first, always have. Just a basic White Canuck.
NamingandEatingPets@reddit
Middle names and my family are weird. I don’t think either of my twin uncles has a middle name, my aunts middle name is mystery. I guess my grandmother just liked it, my grandmother Other, who is Swedish had two middle names, and my middle name is after my mother and my grandfather.
ProfessionalAir445@reddit
Because my middle name is Julie pronounced the French way (family name) and I find it embarassing to pronounce it the French way and then either be like “no it’s Zhu-lee, like the French” or “it’s just spelled like Julie…” when they’re confused.
musical_dragon_cat@reddit
Mine and my brother's are actually pretty normal names. I considered going by my middle name once. I've met a few people who prefer their middle name over their first, for a multitude of valid reasons. One person, it was because he had a relative with the same first name. I haven't encountered too many people with cringey middle names so I don't think it's as common as tv makes it seem.
Master-Collection488@reddit
Some people use their middle name and first name together, as sort of a combined first name.
Mary Ann used to be fairly common in the early 60s. Mary Jane, and Mary Kay, also. Certain combinations are/were more common in more rural areas. James Robert could become Jim-Bob. Weirder still, it's not uncommon (no matter where you live) for certain combos of initials to become a nickname, but onlycommonly-used ones. T.J., J.C., and J.R. for instance. Typically just for males, though. Oh wait, possibly C.J. was used for girls? I forget.
Most people don't treat their middle names as a deep dark secret, but they also don't generally "wear them on their sleeves." It's for government documents. It's something your parent says when they REALLY wants to let you know they mean business. You'll see this a fair bit in movies, sometimes hear it in stores when a kid is acting up.
When someone becomes widely known for being a serial killer, a mass-murderer or assassin, USUALLY their middle name is ALWAYS included in their name. I generally believe that this has been done to save people who shared their name from embarrassment/hassle. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray, and John Wayne Gacy. Usually when a notorious person isn't referred to with three names it's because their name(s) are a bit less common. Charles Manson (who also used a middle name inconsistently), Richard Ramirez, David Berkowitz, John Hinckley Jr. and Jeffrey Dahmer.
TerribleAttitude@reddit
You’re looking for the word “funny.” “Fun” would mean enjoyable, something a person makes fun of is “funny.”
Often, people will name their child something conventional or trendy, knowing their kid has to go by that name for the rest of their life, so their first name is unremarkable. But since people rarely use their middle name, it can really be anything. So parents might get creative, honor a relative who might have an “old person” name, or use the mother or grandmother’s maiden name, which can have an odd effect. Sometimes they might have a middle name that doesn’t “match” their gender. There are also a lot of “stock” middle names that are super unremarkable, so if half the girls in the class have Marie, Nicole, Anne, or Elizabeth as a middle name, if one girl’s middle name is Gertrude after her great-grandma, or Burger after her mother’s maiden name, or Khaleesi because her parents liked Game of Thrones, people might laugh.
Sonarthebat@reddit
We have middle names in the UK too. We usually just go by our first name because it takes too long to say both. Middle names are mostly just for legal documents. It can avoid confusion since it's pretty common for two people to have the same first and last name.
Middle names being funny is just a cliché joke in movies. I don't think it's that common in real life.
Redbubble89@reddit
It's a name people say when you're in trouble usually. My middle name was my Dad's middle name and it's not very common so I tend to hide it.
Odd fact, the writers of The Simpsons hated Richard Nixon and they used his middle name Milhous on Bart's dweeby friend. It's never the most flattering name and parents use it as a backup.
bloopidupe@reddit
Kids are the worst. Middle names are often family names that aren't great or common. Kids find ways to make it worse.
My brother's middle name is also the name of someone who murdered a president
My middle name sounded like a computer brand with obnoxious commercials in the 2000s.
Kids are very clever.
GemarD00f@reddit
as someone who has two middle names and occasionally goes by a middle name instead of my first name, i like to keep them hidden just to add some mystique to myself, little character building. ill usually tell them after a while, but i like to keep up the secret a little bit.
zoopest@reddit
They are usually an opportunity for parents to drop in an uncommon or old fashioned family name.
Basementsnake@reddit
As another side to this, some people go by their middle names instead. I have a coworker who I knew as let’s say Joe. But when he was registering for an event his name came up as Frederick. Turns out his middle name is Joe and he hates the name Frederick for whatever reason.
In school as a kid there was a girl who went by Sarah. We had a substitute one day doing attendance and they called out Regan and she meekly put her hand up. A lot of people never knew that Regan was actually her first name, and she hated it and went by Sarah instead. Eventually in life she switched to Regan because it made her stand out more as her last name was extremely generic (think Smith or Brown).
Bluemonogi@reddit
People don’t use their middle names often so most people won’t know their classmate or colleague’s middle name. A parent might choose anything for a middle name so it might be embarrassing to someone if it is odd or very old fashioned. A boy might get teased for have a feminine sounding middle name like Lesley for example. A lot of middle names are not embarrassing and are just common like Ann or Lee.
I disliked people knowing my middle name as a kid because it sounded bad with the shortened form of my first name I used. It was okay with my full first name but people wouldn’t say that. I was given my maternal great grandmother’s first name as my middle name. If I don’t tell someone my middle name it would be tedious for them to try to find out.
My grandfather came from a different country and did not have a middle name. When he immigrated he added his mother’s maiden name as his middle name.
My maternal grandmother hated her first name and went by her middle name instead all her life so sometimes people prefer their middle name.
TsundereLoliDragon@reddit
I'm not embarrassed by it but I don't like mine. If I have to I won't use it on any documentation unless it's something government official. If I can I'll only use my middle initial which is fine.
It's not hidden at all. Most people just don't use it as part of their everyday names. Some do though and use both. In fact, some people only use their middle name as their regular name because they don't like their first name or to avoid confusion with another family member with the same name.
CheesecakeTime5122@reddit
Badass/moderate name ,lame middle name , badass/moderate surname- american movies
I think it is just in comical puproses though (i am not American)
Smart_Engine_3331@reddit
I go by my middle name. I always have. A lot of other people do so do many well known actors.
Negative_Way8350@reddit
Most Americans have a negative association with their middle name because it's really only used when we are in trouble--an angry American parent often yells their child's first and middle name to show they mean business.
Also, middle names are usually after a family member. I'm named after both of my grandmothers, who happened to share that middle name. It's pretty but very old-fashioned, and people do lightly tease me if they learn it. It doesn't bother me, though--it's not serious.
jadeezi@reddit
For me, I have a super common middle name for girls born around the same time as me. I don’t hide it, but to me it’s just uninteresting because it’s so common. A lot of middle names are passed down in families or as a homage to older family members so depending on the name someone may be embarrassed to have an “older” sounding middle name. While I’m sure you could find someone’s middle name if you go looking for it, most people just use their first and last name day to day (making an online order, submitting a job application, the name that’s on their credit card) unless it’s for legal paperwork or a loan application, etc where they have to verify their identity.
Ellavemia@reddit
I have one like that and recall when I used it on a loan application, then the car dealership called me “first name-middle name” on all future paperwork and advertising, and while it sounds very common, it is also very much not me. I’m like, this is why we never use these.
justmyusername2820@reddit
On a lot of forms we just need to put our middle initial and not the full name
justmyusername2820@reddit
Our last name is a Biblical first name, think Thomas, so all the boy grandchildren have that as a middle name. It’s a way the girls, who took their husband’s last name, are carrying the name forward. I think we’re up to 5 boys with the same middle name now and it works because nobody actually uses the middle name in day to day life.
doveinabottle@reddit
I don’t have a middle name and I’m an American. My parents could barely agree on my first name, so a middle name never happened. My younger brother has one, though.
Artlawprod@reddit
My Dad and my Husband both do not have middle names. When I was pregnant both wanted my children to have middle names for different reasons. My husband has a very boring, common, Anglican name; to the point where a Google search of the name is an ineffective way to find him, and knowing that his children would have the same boring Anglican last name he wanted to name the “normal” names but also provide them with something distinctive.
My Dad, on the other hand, has a fairly distinctive name (there is likely only one of him in the world) and just wanted us to give his grandchildren middle names so they did not have to worry about filling out forms when they have a space for a middle name and you can put nothing. He used to be required to put “X” as a child and this scared him for some reason.
mermaidvideo@reddit
middle names are not really used in day to day life much. you don’t usually know someone’s middle name unless you specifically ask. because of that, parents might choose something for a middle name they wouldn’t necessarily choose for a first name. they’re often used to honor a family member (especially for women— kind of a way for women to pass down a family name in a way that‘ll stick).
so sometimes you get an old fashioned name that might sound silly. but most people’s middle names are honestly pretty normal. in movies it’s more like a plot device for a very low stakes conflict.
Vachic09@reddit
Most people have a middle name here. There are also people who go by their middle name instead of their first name. The movie trope is in reference to a name that they deem embarrassing in general. Common examples: guy has a feminine name, kid has a name that's generally associated with old people etc.