# People best known as double-name types **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117 "2014-10-01T19:24:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/41 "2014-10-02T13:35:40Z")
Melissa Joan Hart Samuel Langhorne Clemens Linda Day George Farrah Fawcett Majors Smokey the Bear Thomas the Tank Engine Felix the Cat Popeye the Sailor ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/42 "2014-10-02T14:08:19Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \<\< clipped \>\> > Smokey the Bear > Thomas the Tank Engine > Felix the Cat > Popeye the Sailor Attaboy! Separate pile already started upthread, but: Attila the Hun Alexander the Great Jabba the Hutt Erik the Red Follow the Leader! šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/43 "2014-10-02T16:02:15Z")
Antonio Carlos Jobim. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/44 "2014-10-02T16:15:21Z")
[QUOTE=FairyChatMom] John Wilkes Booth [/quote] [Quote=astorian] Lee Harvey Oswald [/QUOTE] Mark David Chapman Rodney Alan Greenblatt ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/45 "2014-10-02T16:24:40Z")
David Alan Grier ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/46 "2014-10-02T16:41:39Z")
In the American South, it was very common to give both boys and girls names like Billy Joe or Ella Mae, and those would often be their formal birth certificate name, not just short for William Joseph. My mother went by Mary Ann all her life. In the case of notoriety, people like Lee Harvey Oswald and James Earl Ray and Francis Gary Powers were given those full name treatments by the news media from official police or court documents, and most of their friends probably didnā€™t even know their middle names before they did something to get in the papers. ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/47 "2014-10-02T17:03:36Z")
Lyndon Baines Johnson Lady Bird Johnson Joyce Carol Oates ā€¦and to stretch it: John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt Wile E. Coyote Jesus H. Christ John Q. Public ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/48 "2014-10-02T17:13:52Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Antonio Carlos Jobim. Remember the album Frank did with ā€œToneā€ where he went by Francis Albert Sinatra? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/49 "2014-10-02T17:26:29Z")
I may have known it before but just lately I was reacquainted with [Ann-Margret Olsson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann-Margret) as her full name. Maybe similar names could be incorporated into this ā€œfun and games with namesā€ survey. Cher Seal and other one-name celebs, too. (I may have also known before but Ann-Margret is 8 months older than me! šŸ˜ƒ ) ---
**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:** [October 2, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/50 "2014-10-02T17:35:57Z")
Kareem Abdul Jabbar Mary Lou Retton David Allan Coe W.E.B. DuBois Cecil B. DeMille Michael J Fox Although the late President Truman was also known as just plain Harry, he was usually referred to as Harry S Truman. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/51 "2014-10-02T22:21:05Z")
Joe Bob Briggs ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/52 "2014-10-02T22:22:09Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > Barack Hussein Obama Heā€™s not best known as a double-name type. Itā€™s extremely rare that anybody uses this. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/53 "2014-10-02T22:31:29Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Boutros Boutros-Ghali Yo Yo Ma! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/54 "2014-10-03T01:01:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > John Paul Jones ā€¦and John Paul Jones. (Can YOU guess which one plays bass?) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/55 "2014-10-03T01:24:00Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Remember the album Frank did with ā€œToneā€ where he went by > Francis Albert Sinatra? Iirc, Jobimā€™s nickname was Tom. The only Jobim song Iā€™ve heard Sinatra sing (i guess it was from that album) was Dindi, and i thought it sucked balls. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/56 "2014-10-03T02:06:21Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > Something Iā€™ve noticed from Civil War books, they nearly always show the middle initial or middle name: > > Ulysses S Grant > Joseph E Johnston > George B McClellan > William Tecumseh Sherman > Nathan Bedford Forrest > George Armstrong Custer > J.E.B. Stuart > A.P. Hill > > There are some exceptions, but I donā€™t think Iā€™ve EVER seen or read ā€œGeneral Robert Leeā€ > > Was there an 1860s reason middle initials were common? I notice most are generals, was there an upper-class reason for a prominent middle initial/name? Abraham Lincoln, with humble upbrinings, didnā€™t have one. Something I read, which may not be the case for each person on the list, but explains the commonness of the use of middle initials, was the fact that the number of first names just wasnā€™t as varied, and people were much more commonly named after a grandfather or uncle, but with a different middle name (because that grandfather might have a son of his own who was firstname middlename, junior), so Robert E Lee, for example, might be named after a grandfather who had a son who was Robert A Lee, jr. You occasionally got some people who were distinguished by Roman numerals, if they had the exact name of a living relative, but not their own father. If John James Smith had a son named John James Smith, jr. who died in childhood, JJSā€™s second son, who was named Edward Robert, after his grandfathers, Edward and Robert, called Ned, but styled in writing Edward R. Smith, because his fatherā€™s older brother, Edward Samuel Smith, jr., already was Edward Smith in writing. Anyway, since there was no JJS, jr. to have a child, Ned named his first son John James Smith II. Come to think of it, before about 1880, there were fewer surnames in the US as well. The great waves of immigration from Europe began after the Civil War. > [@Senegoid](#): > > Okay, then, why is this so common? > > And where does the ā€œfirstā€ or ā€œgivenā€ name end, and the ā€œfamily nameā€ or ā€œsurnameā€ begin? > > Often, the second and third of the three names are treated together as the ā€œlast nameā€. > > For example, David Lloyd Georgeā€™s surname was [Lloyd George](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lloyd_George) When a family ā€œdaughtered out,ā€ which is to say, the family name was going to be lost, because only daughters were born in a generation, even within the extended family, if the family had some social standing, usually an oldest daughter of an oldest son, who would be able to inherit, would marry someone slightly below her, but ā€œwith promiseā€-- maybe someone who had distinguished himself in the military, of been the first in his family to go to college, and done really well academically, and the couple would take the dual name, the names of both families, and as a couple, inherit what the family of higher standing had, including that familyā€™s place on the social register. In the UK, there may have been some system of transferring a title to a son-in-law, and then hyphenating a name. Iā€™m not sure how all that works. > [@](#): > > Iā€™ve often seen George Bernard Shaw referred to as Bernard Shaw as if that were his last name, although I donā€™t see anything in his [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw) to support that. In the specific case of (George) Bernard Shaw, I think it was just that people called him Bernard, rather than George, who knew him well (most people called him Mr. Shaw). > [@](#): > > It seems very common for people to have a two-part surname, judging by how often I see names used that way in news articles. And thatā€™s not even counting Spanish or Latin American people with names in the Hispanic style. Itā€™s become common in the last couple of generations, as women who had careers before they married, did not want to change their names after marriage, and then when children were born, wanted their children to have the motherā€™s name as well, so the children has hyphenated names. Some couples I know, both took on the hyphenated name. I do know of a Goldman and Bruner (the latter means Browner) who decided after they were married their name would be Sienna (really; not making that up; I am good friends with one of the bridesmaids). Itā€™s a good thing they werenā€™t Wasserman and Erdman, or their name would be Mud. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/57 "2014-10-03T19:10:26Z")
Tommy Lee Jones? I believe a lot of showbiz names use middle initials (Michael J. Fox) or middle names (like the above example) because the Screen Actors Guild requires a unique name to avoid confusion among creditsā€¦so if ā€œMichael Foxā€ is taken, you add an initial or a middle name ā€“ even if itā€™s fake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117.md?page=2)