I mean names like Mary Jane or Peggy Sue. Do these people go by their first name and middle name at the same time, or do they just have a longer first name? Is it a special custom in certain areas to go by two names? I am sorry if I sound ignorant. I am not American.
2006-10-31 14:44:18 · 8 answers · asked by Turandot 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
Most Americans have a first name, a middle name, and a surname. I have no idea why, but I know that Southerners tend to use both first and second names (my husband is Jerry Lee, for example). Also, in the 50's, a lot of girls went by two names, like Barbara Ann and Peggy Sue.
2006-10-31 14:49:13 · answer #1 · answered by p2of9 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, its not just an american thing. My first name is one name and then I have a middle name. I named my daughter with one first name and two middle names. They dont go together like Peggy Sue or Mary Jane but I like them. Their are some people that have 3 or 4 middle names. It just depends on what people come up with when they are naming their children! :)
2006-10-31 23:00:19 · answer #2 · answered by ◙Blue-Eyed♥Red-Headed♥Bella◙ 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The American South has a special way about almost everything. Another custom in the South is to have a first and middle name but go by your middle name.
Such as--Paul Allen Smith is known as Allen. Then some women are named after their father. I knew a woman named Homer Lee. Also one named Chesterine after her father Chester.
2006-10-31 22:58:55 · answer #3 · answered by a_delphic_oracle 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
More people than not it seems do have middle names, I know of a few that doesn't.
Some people use their middle names basically as their first name, sometimes certain people will call a person by their middle name like their mothers and everyone else will call them by their first name.
2006-10-31 22:50:01 · answer #4 · answered by Sean 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Names generally come from the family - generations back
Grandma: Mary or mother's side.....Grandma:on father's side Sue
Hence Mary Sue.
In my case my daughter was born 2+ months early ..emergency and I had two names in mind, so I took the first name and part of the second name....and made them up...she was in intensive care and I wanted a minister to go and bless her.....and that's called Baptism in the Christian faith.
..........because we all thought she was going to die like her sister at 7 months pregnant...the year before her birth.
Sorry....but it's my sad, true story...Mom with a Broken Heart
2006-10-31 22:49:10 · answer #5 · answered by May I help You? 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
And then you have my husband, who has a first name, two middle names and a last name! Just because.
2006-10-31 22:57:24 · answer #6 · answered by Sunshine 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Usually the second name is their middle name, which their parents just always say with their first name, so its what they are used to and go by. Like.. I had a neighbor whose name was Melissa Jo T-----. Her parents always called her Melissa Jo from the time she was little, so thats just what she got used to being called.
2006-10-31 22:49:05 · answer #7 · answered by Ashley P 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think it is a southern thing.....an older dated practice. Maybe they had two favorites and couldn't decide between the two?
2006-10-31 22:48:17 · answer #8 · answered by smones g 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋