# What's your middle name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 31, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014 "2003-07-31T00:11:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/21 "2003-07-31T02:40:25Z")
Eylese - pronounced Elise No idea where it came from. In 7th grade, I went by Eylese in the classes that the other Shannon was in, and by Shannon in the ones where I was the only one. By the end of the year I found out that most of my teachers though I was a set of twins but thought it really strange that we were never seen together. ---
**Author:** ![im2evil4u](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@im2evil4u](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/im2evil4u)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/22 "2003-07-31T02:42:23Z")
Jeanette. My paternal grandmothers middle name. Her name was Ethel Jeanette, but my mother thought that Ethel was a bit “old fashioned” and named me Ellen. Thank freaking everything, that she had the sense to figure that one out. It was either that or Cindy Ellen. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/23 "2003-07-31T02:43:02Z")
I swear I only hit submit once!!! Gah! ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/24 "2003-07-31T02:48:15Z")
Anne, with an “e”. Just because they liked the sound of it. ---
**Author:** ![soulburnz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@soulburnz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulburnz)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/25 "2003-07-31T02:49:13Z")
Wynn My Great-Grandfather, Grandfather and Father all had the initials JWS. My Mother came up with the brilliant idea that I should also have those initials - even though I was a girl. So she had to find a female-ish name starting with a “W” - It could have gotten really scary. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/26 "2003-07-31T02:51:01Z")
Sloan. My parents thought I was going to be a girl. I wasn’t so they shifted that to the second slot. This was about 5 years before Ferris Bueller, so Sloan Peterson had no effect on my name. ---
**Author:** ![cadolphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cadolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/27 "2003-07-31T02:54:52Z")
I wasn’t given a middle name when I was born. When I asked my mother why she had a 2 part answer. 1. My first name (Kathleen) was long enough by itself. My surname was only 5 letters long. I didn’t think that made much sense. 2. “When you get married, you’ll use your maiden name”. I didn’t get married until I was 44. When I got married 2 years ago, I added a middle name. Drum roll please **Kinsey** Taaa Daaaaaaa I took it from the name of a character in a book series I have been reading for years. Sue Grafton’s PI Kinsey Milhone. ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/28 "2003-07-31T02:56:13Z")
Vanessa. Just because my mom thought it sounded pretty. I wish she had picked that as my first name, since she named me Jennifer. If she had only known that my first grade class had five Jennifers… ---
**Author:** ![purrplebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90ced4/32.png) [@purrplebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purrplebear)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/29 "2003-07-31T03:00:50Z")
Middle name? Me? Nope. No such animal. NO, I tell ya. I don’t _care_ what it says on my driver’s license! I DO NOT HAVE A MIDDLE NAME [sub]_'least not one I’ll admit to, under pain of torture…_[/sub] Ok, ok. I do have one, but thanks to my unmerciful male siblings, I have come to hate it and never admit to it. Though, oddly enough, just the other day at JoAnn Fabrics, I commented on the cashier having the same first name, and she asked what my middle name was, and told me hers. We have the same names! Small world, sometimes. My first name is Karen legally, though I always spell it Karyn. Keep meaning to get it legally changed, just haven’t yet. ---
**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/30 "2003-07-31T03:12:58Z")
Janeva. Pronounced like “Geneva.” My two great-grandmothers’ names were Jane and Eva. My parents stuck them together and gave me Janeva. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/31 "2003-07-31T03:20:47Z")
John. Father’s middle name, grandfather’s middle name (I’m PJC III), not sure how far back it goes. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/32 "2003-07-31T03:27:44Z")
My middle name is Elizabeth, chosen because my mother liked it. By coincidence, my grandmother’s name is Betty (yes, just Betty). Mom didn’t make the connection till later. ---
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/33 "2003-07-31T03:30:28Z")
Three guesses what mine is 🙂 It’s also my mom’s middle name, and my hypothetical future daughter’s. ---
**Author:** ![flood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@flood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flood)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/34 "2003-07-31T03:32:22Z")
Javier (that’s Xavier in English) ---
**Author:** ![Niggle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Niggle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niggle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/35 "2003-07-31T03:32:58Z")
Owen. My dad got to choose it because my mother picked my first name. He liked the sound of it. My mother’s requirement for my first name was that she didn’t know anyone with that name so there was no personal attachment to it. Oddly enough, given how they were chosen, my full name works extremely well together and I’m quite proud of it (it’d damn long, too). The only thing missing is a “Sir” at the beginning. I’m working on it. -n ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/36 "2003-07-31T03:56:02Z")
**Stratton** and very proud of it. It’s a family thing. It was my paternal grandmother’s maiden name. It was my father’s middle name And since Kathy and I have no kids, my sister named her second boy David Stratton. However, Kathy is insisting that I name one of our future cats with the middle name of Stratton. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/37 "2003-07-31T03:56:43Z")
Annan. It’s Scottish, and was my mom’s middle name, and her mom’s maiden name (which became her middle name), and my great-grandfather’s last name. There is still a town of Annan, near the river Annan, near the border of Scotland and England. The Annandales are a faction of the clan Johnston. ---
**Author:** ![Mercutio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mercutio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercutio)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/38 "2003-07-31T04:17:27Z")
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**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/39 "2003-07-31T04:25:47Z")
My middle name is Joseph, although I wish it were my last. Whenever I write something, I that as my pen name. It was my grandfather’s name. Ryan Joseph sounds nice, doesn’t it? -Ryan Joseph ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014/40 "2003-07-31T04:27:16Z")
Correction, it was my mother’s grandfather’s name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-middle-name/192014.md?page=3)