What's a middle name for?

Question

In my culture, there's no middle name so I was wondering what's the purpose of a middle name. Is it like another first name that you can use interchangeably, or is it another part of the name to distinguish people? For example, many people could be named Jennifer Brown. Is a middle name used to distinguish 2 Jennifer Brown's?

Answer 1

Mostly the middle name is used to distinguish between people who might have the same first and last names.
Another purpose is often to honor a family member or other person. The first name is often used this way too. Sometimes the mother's last name before she was married is used as the child's middle name.
Usually the person is called by the first name, but some people are called by their middle name, and some by both interchangeably.
For instance, my father's name was John Philip. His father's name was John. His family called him Philip to distinguish him from his father, but co-workers called him John because it was his first name.
Some people decide they prefer their middle name, and don't use their first name.

Answer 2

In differnent countries and religions, middle names are different;
In the West, a middle name is given as a second name, In the United States and United Kingdom, a male's middle name is sometimes his father's first or middle name. Alternatively, a male's first name may be the same as his father's, in which case the middle name may be used as if a first name so as to distinguish him from his father. People who are known primarily by their middle name sometimes abbreviate their first name, rather than their middle name, to an initial (e.g. F. Scott Fitzgerald and H. Ross Perot, although Perot later dropped the initial).
In the Arab World, children are given two middle names: their father's first name and their grandfather's first name. This practice is used on both male and female children.
In Vietnam the middle names traditionally distinguish between the sexes. Vietnamese middle names are often not used, especially among males.
South Indians often take their fathers' first names as their middle names. After South Indian women marry, they change their middle names to their husbands' first names.
Hope I helped.

Answer 3

well in my culture we have middle names that were old family members last names and the names go on and on, but the middle name is just a distinguisher

Answer 4

Ya it helps to distinguish one from another. My name for example is rather popular so it helps when I can tell them my middle name so they get the right info.

Answer 5

Another important function of a middle name seems to be to name a child after a relative whose name has gone out of fashion (such as Albert or Gertrude), or to burden the child with some weird name that parents don't have the guts to give as first name!

Answer 6

Lets say there are three people in your family that has the same name, in order to distinguish one from the other you would ask ,is it Barbra Ann or Barbra Sue. I feel its to know which is which...

Answer 7

the middle name is often a second name a mom or dad wanted to give the child...sometimes parents can't agree on giving their child names
and if they come up with two names that they wont let go. then, they wound up giving the child both...

Answer 8

distinguisher

Answer 9

No idea yeah but wats the big deal about it??

Answer 10

good point, there is no reason.