Using your middle name as a first name?

Question

I know of several people now whose parents deliberately christened them with the name they wanted to use as the child's middle name (e.g. my dad was christened "Peter Darrell" by his mother who wanted to call him "Darrell"). All the people (well, about 3!) are northern (UK). Is this a northern thing and where does it come from?

Answer 1

My father, myself and my son all use our middle names. I am from Staffordshire, I think it is a regional thing as I know other people in the area that do this too!

Answer 2

Grace Juliet Rose Anastacia desire Elise faith Noelle Renee Deborah Anne Janine Lynn Sophia Eliabeth Nicole Louise Michele Jane Korine Leigh Taylor Kate Janelle Kathryn Reese Claire Genevieve Nicole Rosalynn Mae Josephine Marie Claire

Answer 3

It's often got to do with family traditions... in some families, there are names passed down from one generation to the next, in others, the elders (granparents) get to name the child (some tribes in Nigeria still do that) and they're not always the names the parents would have wanted. So rather than argue, they just give them the middle name they intend to use.

Answer 4

Mine was that way. It was a pain every time someone new was reading my name off a list. I had a chance to change my name legally and took it by switching my first and middle around. Life's been much simpler since. I don't know why the name was set up that way to begin with. No one else in my family, or that I grew up with, had this issue. Maybe I just jumped higher when Mom yelled my middle name than when she used the first one.

Answer 5

I do this. I think I do this. I don't know if I started it or if my parents started, I think my parents started calling me by my middle name, and I'm Mexican. So I don't think this name calling derivation is limited to any one region or locale.I like Esther but it's not what I go by. In school they automatically ask you if that is the name you go by and I always said no. So to answer your question it is definitely not a northern thing and it comes from people wanting choice and exercising their right to use it.

Answer 6

I lived in New England all my life until three years ago when I moved to North Carolina. Going by ones middle name seems to be a fairly common southern thing, and less common in the North.

I'm not saying that is good or bad, just something I've noticed. I'm not really sure why.

Answer 7

i knew a Peta Jane who was known as Jane in the north too........ interesting question which i can only add the above point to. We are northerners and all our children are known by their first names. Also, the men in my family always had a middle name which was a place name, from northumberland. They were known by their first names tho. This doesnt help at all I know but thought i would add it!

Answer 8

Sometimes people choose the first name as a family-type name, and then use the middle name as the one they want the child called by. Causes problems later in life. A boss of mine had to sign her name "L. Susan _______".

Answer 9

My son is called Peter Stuart but we all call him Stuart. Sometimes if their is someone else in the family with the same first name, the second name is used to avoid confusion.

Answer 10

my friend has just had a baby and has call her Stacey Paige, but will call her paige. She has named her Stacey after me, but i dont know her reasons for having Stacey as the first name and not the second. Maybe it sounds better than Paige Stacey? Oh, and we are northern!

Answer 11

Seems like a strange idea, why not just put the name they want to use as the first name? I'm afraid I don't know that one.