# Albert Einstein's middle name **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737 "2003-04-01T16:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kidigus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kidigus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kidigus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/1 "2003-04-01T16:36:14Z")
Does anybody know if this egghead had a middle name!?! ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/2 "2003-04-01T16:38:15Z")
Ladykiller ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/3 "2003-04-01T16:45:49Z")
The ? ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/4 "2003-04-01T16:47:41Z")
I’ve googled up several well-researched online biographies and none of them mentions a middle name. His full official name seems to have been plainly Albert Einstein. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/5 "2003-04-01T16:49:32Z")
Didn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/6 "2003-04-01T17:28:52Z")
If you really need documentary proof, I believe [The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=0CD17G3Z3U&sourceid=0039357300&btob=Y&isbn=0691084076&itm=1) includes a copy of Einstein’s birth certificate. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/7 "2003-04-01T19:57:21Z")
The _Collected Papers_ probably do include it, but it’s also translasted in its entiriety by Pais (_Subtle is the Lord …_, Oxford, 1982, p35): > [@](#): > > No. 224. Ulm, March 15, 1879. Today, the merchant Hermann Einstein, residing in Ulm, Bahnhofstrasse 135, of the Israelitic faith, personally known, appeared before the undersigned registrar, and stated that a child of the male sex, who has received the name Albert, was born in Ulm, in his residence, to his wife Pauline Einstein, nee Kock, of the Israelitic faith, on March 14 of the year 1879, at 11:30 a.m. Read, confirmed and signed: Hermann Einstein. The Registrar, Hartmann. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/8 "2003-04-01T20:01:05Z")
Couple of typing errors there, of which I’ll correct the one that’s of some significance. His mother’s maiden name was Koc **h**. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/9 "2003-04-01T20:22:32Z")
Was not having a middle name prevalent among jews at that time? My first instinct is that middle names are a fairly Christian tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/10 "2003-04-01T21:51:01Z")
I knew a Protestant German with no middle name. She said middle names aren’t as common in Germany as they are in America. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/11 "2003-04-01T22:11:18Z")
buck ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/12 "2003-04-01T22:17:53Z")
Heezno ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/13 "2003-04-01T22:54:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > \*\*Was not having a middle name prevalent among jews at that time? My first instinct is that middle names are a fairly Christian tradition. \*\* I haven’t made any sort of exhaustive study of the subject, but judging from a)the names of famous European Jews of the period and b)my great-grandparents’ names, it seems to have been pretty common either way; many people had only one, many people had multiples. The same is true today. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/14 "2003-04-02T00:50:21Z")
I always thought it was Freak’n. As in “I’m not Albert Freak’n Einstein ya know!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/15 "2003-04-02T03:56:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Happy Lendervedder \* > \*\*Heezno \*\* heeheeheehee! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/16 "2003-04-02T06:00:42Z")
In general (not just Germany and/or jews), middle names are less common in Europe than in the States. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/17 "2003-04-02T06:16:14Z")
Danger was his middle name. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/18 "2003-04-02T11:57:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragon Phoenix \* > \*\*In general (not just Germany and/or jews), middle names are less common in Europe than in the States. \*\* That’s a bit to generic a distinction. There are quite a few European cultures that give their offspring more than one _given name_, even though these names are rarely given the same significance as in the US. Speaking for Sweden, they very rarely appear on anything but the most formal of forms (drivers license etc). In Spain and France it is not uncommon to give a child several _given names_, although they are rarely used. And then there’s the eastern european[sub](or is it confined exclusively to Russia?)[/sub] tradition of patronymics to consider as well. For a more complete discussion, look at the thread [Why do we have middle names?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=128704). ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/19 "2003-04-02T12:12:26Z")
Well it depends. In some European countries it’s very common to have either two or three names, so many people have two “middle names”, and that may cause some confusion in English-speaking countries. ---
**Author:** ![Kidigus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kidigus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kidigus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737/20 "2003-04-03T23:11:08Z")
Jeez…thanks everyone…you guys are a little scary! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albert-einsteins-middle-name/165737.md?page=2)