My mother’s maiden name is the middle name of my older brother and only sibling, but my middle name is the given name of a great uncle.
We named both children in a way that contains some reference to Mrs P’s last name. I think that it leads to interesting and unique whole names with some history to them. Several posters above say something to the effect that although they have been given their mother’s maiden name as their middle name, “luckily” that maiden name is or is similar to a normal first name. I don’t get why this matters. All your middle name is good for is distinguishing you from other people. It’s not as if it is what you are called on a day to day basis. As long as your middle name is not so weird you have to spell it all the time, who cares if it is not a common first name?
I think that you should name your child something very distinctive, subject only to four tests:
1/ the spelling test (not some weird word or spelling variation they will always have to spell out)
2/ the pronunciation test (not some weird word or spelling variation they will spend their life explaining how to pronounce)
3/ the sound test (ie not Mike Hunt)
4/ the neutrality test (not something political or sub-cultural that will pigeonhole them eg “Lilyflower Sandalwood Patchouli Smith” or “Milhous Reagan Bush Smith”)
Within these bounds, unusual is good IMHO.
Giving your kid their mother’s maiden name as a middle name is often a good way to achieve this. Their mother’s maiden name is probably a relatively common word (ie no spelling or pronunciation problems) and probably doesn’t carry political or cultural baggage. However, in combination with the father’s name it will probably produce a whole name that is near enough to unique.
My first name and middle name are so common there were three boys with the same first/middle name combination in my math classes in high school. Yes, it has influenced my thinking on this subject. Does it show?