List of good popular middle names for baby girls and boys

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Middle Names

If you are thinking that your baby doesn’t need a middle name (or names) think again, apart from having aesthetic uses they can also be practical.

"John Smith" could be a simple two word name, but it also happens to be a very common name (although on current first-name trends it’s more likely to be "Jack Smith"). So what if there are more than one in your child’s peer group? How do you distinguish? Give them a middle name, "John Zacharias Smith" would be fairly unique.
However he might not love you for it, so do make sure that your child won’t be embarrassed by their middle name "John Alan Smith" is much better but highlights another risk: Initials that can be pronounced. JAS isn’t too bad, and he might end up with a nickname like "Jaz" which is tolerable, but Jane Amber Muldoon may be sweet but having JAM as your initials could make school life very unpleasant.

Middle names can have a practical value in satisfying the Irish Maiden Aunt who won’t give you a slice of her wealth unless the girl is called Alabaster, well name her Alabaster but call her by her middle name "Jane".
Always try names out-loud to ensure they flow well, and bear in mind that giving children weird spellings for their names makes it harder for them when they start school in (a) finding their names on pegs and (b) being able to spell it right and confusing it with other words.

Some families have traditions, such as giving the child a middle name that is the first name of a parent. This has been going on in the family of the author for many generations. In other families it is used to commemorate a marriage of one family to another, but be careful here. Anything that will cause your child embarrassment at school or later life will not be appreciated by them and they may resent you for it.

Another practical use for middle names is security for things like credit cards, passports and so on.

Of course you can give a child more than one middle name, but do remember the effect it will have on the child’s life: Think how hard it would be if YOU had the surnames of all the players of your father’s favourite football team. Do you want your child to love you or hate you?

Just don’t forget the most important rule: Who is the name for?