# Eliminating a Bogus/Erroneous Middle Initial **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminating-a-bogus-erroneous-middle-initial/806974 "2018-01-19T15:59:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminating-a-bogus-erroneous-middle-initial/806974/21 "2018-01-20T19:45:01Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > I think the sources for the names on these forms are pretty broad. So maybe any time anyone doing a credit check fat fingers your name (or in my case ruins it with software written by lazy programmers that can’t deal with a space in a name) it gets associated with your credit report. Or maybe it’s even broader than credit checks, and they’re searching a whole variety of databases that have poor input quality control. 45 years ago the MIT Science Fiction Society would get junk mail addressed to Mr. T. Science Fiction Society so the space problem has been around for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminating-a-bogus-erroneous-middle-initial/806974/22 "2018-01-20T21:15:51Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > That’s odd, because I also have no middle name and I’ve used my maiden name as my middle name for the last 34 years. Never had any problem with it at all - my SS card, my passport, my license, my bank accounts, my pension. You must have encountered a clerk with an attitude. My birth certificate has NMN in the box for middle name. One of my sisters who lives in Texas never had an issue. Her middle/maiden name is spelled out in full on her DL. My younger sis lives in Oklahoma had the same problem I have. It’s really not a problem. When I sign in at the poll to vote they make me write the NMN on the line. They always question me, good naturedly. And I explain. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminating-a-bogus-erroneous-middle-initial/806974/23 "2018-01-20T22:19:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **CairoCarol** , your really name isn’t Harry, is it? > > And I’m reminded of a tale of an ice cream shop that gave away free cones to customers on their birthday. A couple of enterprising brothers invented a fake third brother, with a different birthday, to get more free ice cream. A decade later, when the fake brother would have turned 18, he got sent Selective Service forms. I’m pretty sure Harry has made it easier for me to get through life with just an S for a middle name! Re the ice cream shop story, when I was in high school we had only 33 people in my graduating class so everyone got a full page in the yearbook (class of 1976). When the layout was done, early in our senior year, there was an extra page available for a 34th class member, so we invented Walter Zimmerman, complete with an old photo of some random person and Walter’s favorite quotes. We kept the joke alive all year. Although Walter had a tendency to be a last-minute no show, he signed up for all kinds of things and I know that at least one teacher thought he was real. And looking back at our yearbook now, there is no way to tell he was just the invention of some mischievous students. If I were a mystery writer I would definitely use this as part of a story - the evil-doer would call himself Walter Zimmerman and use that yearbook as his first step in creating a fake identity for himself. . ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminating-a-bogus-erroneous-middle-initial/806974/24 "2018-01-20T23:45:42Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > - the evil-doer would call himself Walter Zimmerman and use that yearbook as his first step in creating a fake identity for himself. I know that guy! He changed his last name to Tuttle and became a Captain in the Korean Conflict. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminating-a-bogus-erroneous-middle-initial/806974/25 "2018-01-22T04:52:17Z")
Some states insist that a woman use her maiden name as middle name; others forbid it and insist on the birth certificate middle name and forbid the maiden name. We’ve lived in 7 states, so don’t ask me which is which. My wife doesn’t like her middle name, and didn’t want to use it, but they insisted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminating-a-bogus-erroneous-middle-initial/806974.md?page=1)