# Maiden names as son's middle names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504 "2011-05-19T21:28:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surrounded_by_literalists)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/41 "2011-05-20T17:30:14Z")
My son is named after his grandfather (first) and father (middle). My daughter has her grandmothers maiden name as her middle name. I wanted it to be her first, but I was voted down, as others felt it was too unusual. Theyne (‘teen’). I still think is beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/42 "2011-05-20T17:45:43Z")
That would make me Aaron Rohrer [my last name]. Horrifying. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Snifit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Snifit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snifit)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/43 "2011-05-20T19:43:13Z")
I have my mother’s maiden name as my middle name (though I never know whether I should call it her maiden name, as she didn’t take my father’s name when they married, as per Quebec culture). I’m living in Calgary now, and it seems like everyone who learns my middle name is surprised that it’s not a second first name. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/44 "2011-05-20T20:57:42Z")
Don’t do this if your maiden name is “Shortness”. And if anyone has a time machine and can go back to 1940 or so to explain this to my grandmother, my father would be in your debt eternally. (I don’t know who was less lucky, him, or his older brother Clyde Junior.) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/45 "2011-05-20T21:59:33Z")
My son has my wife’s last name for a middle name – maybe that means he’ll be president someday. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/46 "2011-05-20T22:14:19Z")
My family and my husband’s family–poor peasants all–have been known to do it, but more with general family names. My brother’s middle name is some ancestor’s last name, and so is my BIL’s. None of us have the immediate maiden name though, funny that. I very nearly named our second daughter after an ancestor on my husband’s side, last name and all. I mean, isn’t Sarah Justice about the coolest name ever? She isn’t a Sarah, but I still sort of regret not using it! ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/47 "2011-05-20T23:35:48Z")
My middle name is my paternal grandmother’s maiden name. My oldest brother’s is my mother’s maiden name. My younger brother’s is my great-grandmother’s maiden name. We gave our third child my grandmother’s maiden name as his middle name. My mom’s family is from all over New England, and my dad’s family is from the eastern midwest. Our last name is in the top 80 most common in the US, and our first names are all pretty standard. All of us with family middle names generally think it’s pretty cool, since they’re all pretty rare names. My younger brother is a musician, and goes by his first and middle name. Since I’m often one of about eight bajillion Daves, I often suggest to people that they can call me Grill, but nobody ever does… maybe I need to start introducing myself that way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/48 "2011-05-21T01:05:21Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > My middle name is my mom’s last name. I wouldn’t call it her “maiden” name, though, because she never took my dad’s name when they got married. I now wish I’d given my sons my maiden name as a middle name. I’ve kept my own surname and it’d be nice to have that connection. My husband and sons are all Something Something \, while I’m Something \. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/49 "2011-05-21T02:09:34Z")
There was only girls on my mothers side of the family, and they agreed (w/husbands of course) that the first boy would have the maiden name as a middle name. I was the last male and I got Gramp’s first name as my middle name. I would have rather had the maiden name. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/50 "2011-05-21T02:29:07Z")
It’s the tradition in my family, although not exclusive to sons. First born gets mother’s maiden name as middle name, second gets paternal grandmother’s maiden name, third gets maternal grandmother’s and so on. They actually skipped one with me (I was second, got my maternal grandmother’s maiden name) because my father’s mother’s maiden name was Bonar (my father’s middle name) and he just couldn’t do that to his son (he hated it). ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/51 "2011-05-21T03:03:58Z")
One of my nephews has his grandmother’s maiden name as a first name. Since his last name is pretty common, an uncommon (and cool) first name distinguishes him from many others with a last name not quite as common as Smith, but almost. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/52 "2011-05-21T04:12:07Z")
My father had his mother’s maiden name as his middle name. He passed it to me. I have passed it to my son. FWIW my father is from the middle west ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/53 "2011-05-21T17:21:37Z")
My dad’s middle name is his mother’s maiden name. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/54 "2011-05-21T18:44:17Z")
Counter-example: My mother’s family, with roots in the Ohio valley, have tended to use more conventional “Christian names” for both first and middle name, rather than mother’s maiden name. Sometimes a middle name is actually one of an ancestor’s given names or a form thereof. Example (with details changed): James Allen Baker (who may or may not have had any ancestors with James or Allen as surnames) could have two sons named Thomas Allen (Baker) and David James (Baker). David could marry a woman named Catherine (Theophrastia) Smith, and name their first daughter Julia Kathleen (Baker). His second son (not even his first!) might be named Jacob David (Baker), which is an indirect way of naming the boy after himself (“James” and “Jacob” both being English forms of “Jacobus”). When I was a kid, I thought people who used names like “Grayson” or “Cooper” as given names were a bit odd. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/55 "2011-05-21T20:00:15Z")
I don’t know about the whole country, but around here tons of boys have their mom’s maiden name as their middle name, which they are sometimes called by, or their first name. Personally I know guys called Evans (given name), Brooks (middle name), Cooper (given name), and Winston (middle name), all after their mom’s side. All of those names translate pretty well as first names, and are in fact fairly common given names in their own right except for ‘Evans’, I believe. I also know a girl named Kimball after her mom’s maiden name, I consider that a bit harsh. We haven’t had a boy born alive in my family in 35 years, but my brother who died had my mom’s maiden name as his middle name too. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/56 "2011-05-22T20:03:43Z")
My grandmother (father’s mother) had an unusual maiden name, Treharne (not to be confused with the slightly less uncommon Traherne), and it was given to all her three sons as a middle name. Both I and my sister also received this as a middle name (although we each got another middle name too). My sister has one daughter and I have two. Each of them also received this name as a middle name. (In the case of my daughters, at least, it was largely at my mother’s insistence, despite the fact that the name is not from her side of the family.) My dad and both his brothers are now dead, and we long ago lost contact with my dad’s brothers’ children, but his elder brother had a son and his younger brother had a daughter and a son. I rather think I recall that the younger brother’s son had Treharne as a middle name too, and maybe all these children did. As I say, it is an unusual surname. Indeed, I have never heard of anyone who has it apart from my grandmother, but at least eight of her descendants (five surviving, but maybe more if my dad’s brothers also passed it on) have it as a middle name. My sister’s daughter is single and in her forties now, so she will probably not pass it on any further, but my own daughters are teenagers, so there is hope for a further generation. (They say they do not like the name now, but I did not like it either at their age. Now I kind of appreciate the family tradition.) As the name passes through both male and female lines, there is hope that Treharnes might take over the world eventually! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/57 "2011-05-22T20:49:13Z")
I was almost named my mother’s maiden name as a first name, which is also a southern tradition. Too bad that’s used as credit security info (how idiotic), so I can’t say. My oldest son is named Bennett, which sounds like one of those names, but is actually the first name of my GGGG-GF. He was the last to be born in Virginia (in 1788) before my family started going west, and my son was the first to be born back in Virginia after that, so it kind of fits. ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/58 "2011-05-23T17:44:14Z")
My brother’s middle name is our mother’s maiden name–Martin. Very commonly done in the South. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/59 "2011-05-23T19:37:29Z")
Pennsylvania native here. Not so much the mother’s maiden name in our family, but a family surname. Oldest brother: our paternal grandmother’s maiden name. Second brother (and our father): not sure where their middle name came from. Third brother: A great-grandmother’s maiden name. Me: my maternal grandmother’s maiden name. Niece 1: Some ancestor’s name Nephew 1: his mother’s maiden name Nephew 2: his father’s middle name (and therefore our paternal grandfather’s maiden name) Nephew 3: A distant relative’s last name. I have to check the family tree to see where that one came from, actually! Our kids have “real” middle names (i.e. not taken from surnames). Ditto my husband’s brother’s kids. Of note: my family is Catholic. **Typo Knig** ’s family is Jewish. Not sure if that’s relevant or just a coincidence in our family. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504/60 "2011-05-25T22:57:22Z")
My daughter has her Great Grandmother’s maiden name as her middle name: O’Hara. It sounded WAY better than my maiden name (Dei) and my mom’s just was too trendy ( Kennedy.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maiden-names-as-sons-middle-names/582504.md?page=4)