Hi everyone!
I'm new to the board. I don't have any kids yet but we're planning on having a baby soon, so we have been talking about names.
I'm not from the States but I know that almost everyone in the US has a middle name and I was wondering why? We are not sure whether to give our baby a middle name or not. Hfrom Russia and everyone's middle name over there is the name of their father..
Just to give you an example, if your father's name is Viktor and you're a boy, your name is *boy's name* Viktorovich *last name*. If you're a girl, it's *girl's name* Viktorovna *last name*.

But we're in Germany and this is not the case over here. As far as I know it's quite common in Germany to give the baby as a middle name the name of their godmother if it's a girl or of the godfather if it's a boy.
So we are wondering if we should give our kids a middle name at all.

What are your reasons for giving your baby a middle name?
Is your baby's middle name something special, for example the name of a grandparent of the kid?

I'm looking forward to your answers!

Love,
Sandra.

I'm not named after anyone.

Well, I'm not a mother yet but my middle name (Danielle) is also the middle name of two of my aunts so I was definitely named after them. I think it's a great opportunity to honor somebody that you love and also it's a good fallback for your child if he or she doesn't care for their first name. I know my father goes by his middle name and I do that a lot as well.
Those would and will be the most important reasons for me to give my future child(ren) a middle name.

WELL WITH MY OLDEST SON HIS FIRST NAME IS ROY AFTER HIS FATHER,GRANDFATHER AND GREAT GRANDFATHER, AND HE GOES BY HIS MIDDLE NAME. OUR YOUNGEST SON'S MIDDLE NAME IS AFTER MY GRANDFATHER WHO PASSED AWAY WHEN I WAS YOUNGER. AND WITH OUR NEXT ONE(TRYING) WE WILL DO THE SAME......GIVE THEM A MIDDLE NAME AFTER SOMEONE CLOSE TO US. IF IT IS A GIRL IT WILL BE AFTER MY MOTHER AND IF IT IS A BOY WE HAVN'T DECIDED EITHER MY DAD,BROTHER OR MY HUBBY'S BEST FRIEND. REALLY IT IS UP TP YOU AND YOUR HUBBY WEATHER YOU WANT TO HONOR SOMEONE OR TO NOT EVEN GIVE THEM A MIDDLE NAME. GOOD LUCK

I don't have a middle name, but I only know of one other person who didn't have one growing up. I have a friend who because of how many Daniel's are around goes by his middle name Patrick which is the name of one of his cousins. Sometimes the names are used to honor a family member in his family. Patrick's middle name was Lawrence after his Grandfather, Daniel's name was passed down through his family so his full name has Jr. tacked on. Daniel's older sister's middle name, Jean, was the name of her mother. Some middle names are a name that one of the parents liked but the other didn't care for so they compromised. Daniel's younger sister Samantha Elizabeth is sort of like like. Her dad wanted to name her Elizabeth Samantha but that was the same first name as her cousin so it got switched. Some it was just because the parents liked it with the first name or it's an alternative for the first name. One of my friend's is named Rachel Marie. Her middle name was the most popular for girl's in her graduating class. There was also a girl with Marie for the first name in her class! BTW her class was 250 graduating. One of my other friends went to school with two guys who used their middle name as their name: Billy Lee and George Logan. Daniel's Mother's name is Jean Marie Rose. I guess her mom couldn't decide what midle name to give her. Middle names I think were used as a way of distinguishing two people with the same first and last names in England and they got passed down through the generations. Some people however have the same first and middle name. One of my friends works at a restaurant where one of the dishwashers and one of the female servers have the same first and middle name. She also went to school with two Amber G's. One was Grey and the other was Gray. She can't remember how they managed to be kept distinguished from each other. I hope this helps. I kind of wish I could have gone by something other than Ency.

I don't know why we do it but we do. In Mexico, where my husband is from they have first names and two last names. my husband is Juan Pablo (full first name) and his last names are Barrera(his fathers) and Pineda (his mothers). When we had our kids we went with american form. My oldest is Juan Pablo Barrera Jr and my youngest is Mateo David. Mine is Kami May, they may came from my mothers sister Hazel May and my fathers Aunt Mae Ellen.