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Many people's names include one or more middle names, placed between the first given name and the surname. In the West, a middle name is effectively a second given name. In the United States it is usually abbreviated by its possessor to the middle initial.
Despite their relatively long existence in the Western world, the phrase "middle name" was not recorded until 1835 in "Harvardiana", a periodical of the time. 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 quotations in Wikiquote, sidebar).
The use of multiple middle names has been somewhat impeded recently by the increased use of computer databases that allow for only a single middle name or more commonly a middle initial in storing personal records, effectively depriving persons with multiple middle names of the ability to be listed in such databases under their full name. Especially in the case of government records and other databases that are used for legal purposes, this phenomenon has sometimes been criticized as a form of discrimination against people who carry multiple middle names for cultural or religious reasons.
In United States, the middle name is rarely used on official documents. The middle initial is used instead on most identity documents, passports, driver licenses, social security cards, university diplomas, and other official documents. Examples of this form include George W. Bush and John F. Kennedy.
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 United States and United Kingdom, a male's middle name is sometimes his father's first or middle 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. People who are known primarily by their middle name sometimes abbreviate their first name, rather than their middle name, to an initial (e.g. F. Scott Fitzgerald and H. Ross Perot, although Perot later dropped the initial).
American Southerners are sometimes referred to familiarly by both their first and middle names, such as Billy Joe and M. E. (Mary Elizabeth); this is common in the North when the first name is the very common name Mary. In all parts of the United States, one's middle name is sometimes used in place of one's first name, particularly if the first name is the same as their father's (for example, former Vice President James Danforth "Dan" Quayle) or is very common.
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., Paul McCartney). Rarely, individuals are only given initials as middle names, with the initial(s) not explicitly standing for anything (e.g, Harry S. Truman). However, this practice is common among the Amish, who commonly use the first letter of the mother's maiden name as a solitary initial for the sons and daughters. Thus, the children of Mary Miller would use the middle initial M. In such cases, using a period after the "initial" is incorrect, since a period denotes an abbreviation.
Examples of multiple middle names: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor (Queen Elizabeth II), J. R. R. Tolkien, George H.W. Bush and V. V. S. Laxman. The English upper classes are traditionally fond of taking multiple middle names; for example, Princess Michael of Kent was given no fewer than four middle names, as Baroness Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz; most of the royal family have three. In even more extreme examples, British musician Brian Eno's full name is Brian Peter George St. Jean le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, and Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas named their son Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland.
Catholic
Males in some predominantly Catholic communities (mostly Bavarian (but almost never other German), 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. See French names for more details on naming practices in France.
Hispanic females, conversely, sometimes have the middle name José. 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).
The use of such names is primarily a cultural issue, rather than a religious issue. There is no Church teaching regarding such names.
In many English-speaking countries and in German-speaking lands it is customary for a person being confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church to adopt a Confirmation name, that may be used as a second middle name, and is without effect in civil law, unless, of course, the confirmand pursues the appropriate legal avenues.
East Asian
Usually the first characters of Chinese and Korean given names are considered middle names, because they are positioned in the middle of the name (Chinese and Korean given names usually have two characters and are positioned after the family name), like Wong Shan Leung, where Shan is in the "middle". However, since some Chinese have only one syllable in their given name (e.g. Wong Kit), so they have no middle position in their full name and no middle name. (See Chinese name, Korean name, Japanese name)
Most Chinese Americans anglicize their Chinese given name and convert it to an authentic middle name, after a native English first name, such as Bruce Junfan Lee, James Chu-yu Soong, and Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang. The Chinese given name usually has two characters and it is usually combined into "one" middle name for better organizational purposes, especially with Cantonese names, such as Bruce Junfan Lee or Bruce J. Lee. There are also a minority whose Chinese given names are their first names, and have English middle names.
Southeast Asian
In Vietnam the middle names traditionally distinguish between the sexes. Vietnamese middle names are often not used, especially among males. In a 1988 study, 22% of Vietnamese males have no middle names.
In Philippines, the mother's maiden name is used as the middle name of a legitimate child.
South Asian
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, usually as their surname, sometimes instead take Singh as their middle name.
See also
"Middle name"