For a middle name I think it’s kinda cool. I never, ever use my middle name (which is pretty average – Elizabeth) so even if I had an odd middle name I don’t think it’d have been an issue very often.
For a first name, Og, NO!
How important is Mozart to you, anyway? Not that I’m that big of a fan of Amadeus as a name in any case, but it would be a lot more understandable if you were a music teacher or a musician or had a cabinet full of Mozart memorabilia or something. It’s like with Eddie Van Halen naming his son Wolfgang – it seems almost natural!
In five years, are you going to have moved on in your musical tastes and start wishing that you had named the child “Springsteen”?
With Mozart as a starting point, I’m not all that sure that “Springsteen” would be a move in a positive direction … 
Sorry, just could not resist that shot across the bow …
:::ducks-and-runs-for-cover:::
I do think kids would make fun of him for it. It’s a silly sounding name to young American years. I also think a very likely scenario is that teachers will read out the roll, see “Amadeus,” and make some sort of deal over what a great name it is. Boom. Instant teacher’s pet.
I agree with the sentiment that if you like Mozart so much, you should change your name. Or maybe your kid will like Mozart so much that he’ll change his. But don’t force it on him.
On the other hand, he’d learn early on how to stand up for himself.
PS - Jewish tradition, by the way, is to name your kids after dead relatives. Along those lines, and if living relatives had gotten their way, I would’ve been Morton Irving Bravo. Luckily for me, cooler heads (my parents) prevailed and different names were chosen.
You were “Born To (Duck And) Run (For Cover).” 
I like it, both the meaning and the homage to the musician. It would be questionable as a first name, I think, but middle names are basically filler anyway. 
I say go for it. Better than being the umpteenth kid with the middle name “Thomas” or “Joseph.”
The nice thing about having your own children is that their yours. You can name them whatever the hell you want. This is why my baby sister’s middle name is Philomena and my baby brother’s middle name is Fulton - not exactly common in the US. All 5 of my father’s kids were named after religious figures he admired. Kids are named after actors, singers, artists, sports figures… If you admire Mozart that much - go for it.
There are some children in a school in my town who are named Wolverine, Hercules, and some other X-Men names. Apparently, their parents really liked X-Men and mythology. But, that’s their call.
I would love to have a daughter named Lillia Hayden. It’s not a common name but so what. I like it. When people name their kids, they go with something they like, not what they think other people will like.
The nice thing is that your kid change change his name if he wants to. Just because you picked the name, it doesn’t mean he has to keep it. If we all waited to see what name our kids wanted, they’d be 15 before getting a name on their birth certificate and we’d have whole generations named after the same two pop stars.
Whats wrong with Wolfgang?
I LOVE Amadeus for a middle name. I can’t imagine why it’d be seen as tacky – for gawd’s sake, you’re not naming him after Dahmer or anything. It’s a beautiful, slightly exotic name honoring a musical genius. It also has meaning to you beyond ‘saw it in a baby name book’.
How on earth is it exotic?! And why that one musical genius, among many? Because he had a recognisable name, perhaps?
However, I suspect it’s present is “Baby Names II - the name they didn’t think of”.
Inspired by the “New Kitty” threads in MMPSIMS, I will add my opinion. This is why people have pets. You can name a cat or a dog Amadeus or Springsteen or Loki or Wolfgang and no one will give, or suffer any grief. This is one of the reasons pets were invented…so we can indulge in creative naming without harm. What if your son just hates Mozart? What if he is tone-deaf? What if Mozart is revealed as a violent pedophile who also killed pregnant housewives for fun? What if one day you just get so sick of Mozart that you can’t listen to the music without enduring a splitting headache…how will you feel about your child then?
Save the child from your hero-worship, and go find a cat to name.
Thanks for your thoughts so far! It’s great to get so many opinions. 
Nothing… it just doesn’t flow well with the first names I’ve been considering.
…Okay, now I’m thinking that might be a cool middle name with some other name. ??? Good thing I have a while to ponder on this.
Good point. People’s ideas and feelings about things do change. However, my feelings about my kid would never change!!! I might get really annoyed at myself and wind up apologizing to my future 12-year-old, “I’m should’ve just gone with Thomas!!”, but the kid himself wouldn’t annoy me!
And for the “anti- naming a kid after someone famous” crowd… just curious, what is your perception of the difference between getting a name from a historical/popular figure and naming after, say, Grandpa? Would you oppose naming the kid after a family member or friend also, and if so (or not), why?
On the other hand, his girlfriend/wife/whatever could use it as a pet name. Shades of Falco.
My cousin’s middle name is Amédée, as was my grandfather’s. My family is French-Canadian, and Amédée is the French form of Amadeus. He’s 15, now, and doesn’t seem any the worse for wear for it. And screaming his three-name-call sounds really effing impressive :).
Really? I’m not up on my Mozartian biography, but in The Symphony, his section is introduced with this short note:
Anyway, IMO Amadeus isn’t tacky so much as pretentious, and if the above quote is correct, perhaps you can pick from one of the other four names to honor him.
I don’t see anything wrong with it. Mozart is a famous enough personality that if the name ends up getting an airing, it’s not likely to have people scratching their heads saying “what a weird name.”
Also, if he grows up to become a professional baseball player, it would sound great to have “Rock Me, Amadeus” play over the PA when he comes to bat/comes in from the bullpen.
Well, I’m a pretty good classical pianist. That’s about where I qualify for that.
Scratch that. I’m a half-assed classical pianist who was trained for many years but has since lapsed and is probably extremely rusty.
I think it would be kind of neat.
One point to keep in mind–when using a vowel name as a middle name, be especially careful that the initials don’t spell something bad. Like if you named him Robert Amadeus Gurl, his initials would be RAG.
Then again, if you were feeling patriotic, you could call him Francis Lawrence Amadeus Gurl…
I second the “keep it for a pet” idea. My sister-in-law has a cat named Mozart. Much better on a kitty than a child IMO.
If you want to honor a musician I’d stick to much more commonly used names for both spots. Opera singer Renata Tebaldi recently died. Now Renata’s a beatiful girl’s name.