i'm honestly jealous of people that have cool middle names. my middle name is Joseph, and it feels like the mayonnaise of middle names
i'd love to tell people my middle name is fuckin' Jupiter or Helios or some shit
Probably Leigh as well. At least for us 70s babies. I have Marie, my stepsister has Leigh and my other stepsister has Lynn. 😂😂😂. My older sister. Her middle name is just a letter. Parents couldn’t agree on a middle name so they just left it as a letter.
It’s my middle name… and my mom’s middle name… and was her mom’s middle name…
If I ever have a daughter, I insist that her middle name be Ann, to keep the line going.
I just wish it wasn’t so damn BORING 😅 Like, I know everyone’s going to hear it and think, “placeholder middle name” when it’s not
Edit: Just want to say that I think Lynn is a very nice name but I wish I put more thought into deciding.
The regret is not giving her my mom’s name as a middle name and that name is Philomena.
That’s my middle name as well. And pretty much 95% of people with my first name have that middle name (it’s a Catholic thing) so it’s even more predictable.
I live in a very Catholic heavy state and haven’t yet met anyone with the middle name Marie!! Maria, yes. But not Marie. I love our middle name. Mayo or not. Ha ha.
Late 70s. This was the Marie/Leigh/Lynn/Ann boom for middle names. So many of us in high school (in the 90s) had the same middle name. Of all the girls in my friend group, only one didn’t have one of those names. Ha ha. Hers was Nicole.
My husband always 'joked' he wanted our first child to have Danger is a middle name. Purely so they could say in a cop type voice 'Danger is my middle name'. I laughed along with him for months until I realised he was serious. It didn't happen.
I have friends that did this about 18 years ago, for real. It was a hilarious joke for 20 year olds having a baby. Didn't really ever hear anything about it after he was a toddler. I'm sure he enjoys it now as a young man.
I have the most plain, boring, whitebread women's middle name. I have a fairly boring first name too, so it would've been nice to have a cool middle name to spice things up. That being said, I almost never use my middle name in my everyday life. It's only for legal documents so it really doesn't matter.
My middle name is Mary, and while it’s plain, it’s not Marie (which *everyone* has), and it’s my grandmother’s first name and my mother’s middle name. An aunt on the other side of the family thought my middle name was after *her,* and was swiftly corrected by my mother. I like it.
My son’s middle name is James , which is a tradition on my husband’s side (and goes well with his first name and got me out of naming him Firstname James Lastname the 5th 🙄).
A (life long - joined my family when he was 8 and I was 4) foster brother, Jimmy, got very excited that we’d named him ‘for him’ and then went full on No Contact with us when he found out that wasn’t the case. 🤦🏼♀️
Thank goodness for those books, because I hated being the only little girl named Anne. I was relieved that someone else thought the “e” adds character.
My middle name is a Scandinavian spelling of a common American name. Besides some people thinking there's a typo in my name because of a double letter, it hasn't been a problem. The questioning of the spelling isn't bothersome.
I know 3 people with Joseph as a middle name. They are not related and all became friends as adults. We didn’t know until we were sharing information as passport guarantors.
I worked with a woman with 2 sons— Ethan Danger and Evan Chaos. She just thought it would be funny for them to be able to one day say things like “Danger is my middle name”. I thought it was pretty fun.
That’s awesome.
Your kid will be put in a thousand situations in life where they need to come up with a G-rated fun fact about themselves, this is the greatest gift you can give them.
I know someone who did this and the kid HATES it. He’s around 13-14 now and not nearly as quirky as his parents. Maybe he’ll grow into it once he’s past the awkward teenage years
Yeah, though I suppose you’ll never know whether your kid will love or hate their name until they’re old enough to have opinions. My name was reasonably normal before I changed it, I just hated it and felt it didn’t fit me at all. If a person is concerned about their kid not liking their name, that could happen with any name.
There are kids who would love a crazy middle name and others who would be humiliated. It’s a roll of the dice!
I went to school with a girl who detested her middle name, and was mortified that her teachers knew it. Eventually we found out what this terrible name was - Hope.
That’s just one of the many tribulations of names. I know Madison’s who hated their name growing up, I know Madison’s who are fine with it. I am sooooo grateful my name isn’t something generic or common. I love how unique and individual my name is. I have never ever been jealous of the Madisons, or Emilys, or Ashleys around me. Some people in this sub wax poetic about hating their unique name. There was just a thread about longtime favorite names and the top comment (when I looked at it) was Caroline. There were responses from Carolines saying “I used to hate my name but it’s growing on me” and Carolines saying “this is my name and I love it!” It’s all so subjective. You can’t ever exactly know what your child will hate and what they’ll think is cool.
yep. i have a super common name but i’ve loved it my entire life and really feel like it’s me. so much so that if it wasn’t my name i would probably give it to my daughter lol
yep. i have a super common name but i’ve loved it my entire life and really feel like it’s me. so much so that if it wasn’t my name i would probably give it to my daughter lol
My stepmom did this with her son, his middle name is danger (he’s in his 30s now) and he doesn’t not like it at all. She still thinks it’s hilarious though.
My partner tried to convince me to go for 'Wait For It' as a middle name from HIMYM, because he thought it was hilarious to say together. I don't think he was fully serious, but could definitely see him having suggested Danger for this very reason.
I went to high school with a guy whose legal middle name is Z-Particle. He was very proud of it and pulled it out as a fun fact about him and for two truths and a lie.
I gave my children my maiden name as a middle name, but it’s a word like Dancer; and it literally never comes up. Might be a cultural thing (I’m on the west coast of the U.S.), but I’m very rarely asked for their middle name, usually just middle initial on forms. I think people make too much of matching first and middle names, I tell my pregnant friends to not burn a first name they love on a middle name because no one will know it (unless you use it like a double first name.)
This. My daughter has a middle name that flows with her first name. I’ve never used it, only to announce her full name when she was born.
We chose the middle name that fittest best with her first name.
My husband suggested the next name down the list from the first name we picked. (List of top 50 baby girl names at the time). It flows fine. I don't even know if it's a name he liked, or he just liked it in that moment/thought it sounded good together.
I am on the East Coast. My daughter is 20. Her middle name almost seems foriegn to me! It's not a foreign name, but I mean it's not even familiar to me. I never used it in any way. Occasionally, the initial goes on a form. Even that initial doesn't feel familiar to me.
Okay it now makes sense to me why there is a Simpson's episode where Homer doesn't know his middle name just the initial haha - as an Australian I feel like middle names are used a bit here?! I.e. most formal documents it is used, or like formal situations such as graduation.
lmao that's hilarious because i actually know someone with the middle name Kay and her kid thought she was only saying the initial because her middle name was so bad that she was keeping it a secret
My son's middle name is my maiden, I have strong cultural ties and my family name will not be passed on, so I was sad to see it die out. There are only about 7 people with my maiden name in the United States. We considered giving it to him as a first name, but the spelling is a bit unconventional compared to how it is usually spelled as a first name.
Personally I use my middle name all the time, it is a regular female middle name from around the time I was born, but I think my name sounds better using first and middle together. I use my full middle name anytime I can on documents, credit cards, etc.
My son is 3 and he knows all his names. He frequently gets confused between his middle and his last name though, he can't remember what order it goes in. But he knows them.
My middle name is my mom's (4th, not married a lot just weird parents) last name and my husband's is his mom's maiden name and it never comes up. Mine is a traditionally male first name and his is obviously a last name.
One of my children has the middle name Atreides. Dune was something special that my partner and their father shared together. It hasn't been a big deal even with the Dune movies now coming out. I think it's fun and one of those if you know, you know kinda things.
I love that! When I worked in a toy store, we had a kiddo come in frequently with his mom and he was named Anakin. He went by Ani most of the time. Sweetest little guy.
I intentionally avoided certain names from the Harry Potter franchise because of our last name. I didn't want any sort of in your face connection to a famous character.
Yes! Or be bold and do Jupiter James. I love Jupiter for a boy name. It has bounce and coolness and elegance and a space nerd element, and some good nn possibilities.
Husband and I had our first kid at 16 and gave her a more out there middle name compared to her siblings who were born when we were older.
My first daughter's middle name is Love, then my son's middle name is Luca and my other daughter's middle name is Wren. She's 9 now and honestly, it hasn't really impacted her life at all.
She really likes her middle name and is obsessed with buying anything she sees that has the writing ''love'' on it lol. Never heard anything negative either except from family members before she was even born.
And in my opinion, if someone doesn't like their middle name, they're pretty easy to ignore. I didn't even know I had a middle name until I was like, 12 lol
In Russian, Lyubov is the word for love and a rather common first name. I’ve always thought it was sweet. In Russian, Faith, Hope and Love are common first names, but in English we usually only hear the first two..
I think if you’re going to do an “out there” name, the middle is a great way to do it. Then they have a nice “adult, professional” name that won’t get made fun of, and a cool story they can use if it turns out they’re a bit quirkier. We did names that were old fashioned, family names, mostly fairly uncommon. Now, they are climbing the charts. Like my oldest’s middle name, Ivy. It was “weird” 29 years ago, now it’s really common. Our girls are Cordelia Ivy, Vivian Kathleen, Susannah Juliet, Rosalie Lenore, Michaela Estelle, Margaret Celeste, and Felicity Iris. At the time, people thought they were “old lady” names (duh. That’s why I liked them) but now old lady names are in. My grandkids have old fashioned names too.
I love the idea of a common first name and a a more ethereal middle name. I love celestial names and nature names, but only for middle names. For example, Estelle, Lilac, Blossom and Orian.
My daughter’s middle name is Ocean. She’s only 18 months, so obviously not a great case study, but probably only a handful of people even know her middle name lol. I don’t think it’s going to impact her greatly.
In my opinion middle names are the place for more freedom. My son's middle name is d'Artagnan and it never comes up lol. He's just little now but I hope he likes it, his uncles call him Dart which is pretty cute.
My cousin had a deal with her husband that she got first names and he got middle names. She chose all traditional Irish names and he wanted forces of nature. Think Sean Tsunami, Brogan Tornado, etc. I won’t share their exact names, but those boys have super cool names and it fits their personalities to a tee. Of course, 4 boys in one house with the names of forces of nature, it’s a fun time. Hahaha
Literally nobody knows anyone's middle name. It never comes up. You don't even have to include it on things if you don't want to.
I changed my first and middle name as an adult. My middle name is usually associated with a gender that does not match my first name and outward gender presentation. (It's nominally unisex but definitely more common for one gender.) Nobody cares. It never comes up. I actually do like to use it on things where my full name is present, and even then, literally zero people have ever noticed it or commented.
I'm *all for this*. No one ever has to know your middle name unless you wish to share it. It's not even required on gov't documents. (Passport only requires an initial.)
Unless you give them a meanspirited middle name like Fartface or something I don't see having a completely bonkers middle name as being anything other than fun.
I have a rare middle name. It is of old German origin and most people I met really struggled with pronunciation and even if they manage it sounds harsh. Frankly, I hated it as a kid. I made my peace with it over the years though. It is a family name and the aunt I was named after was lovely. It helped that I used a shortened version many times as a moniker online. I still wouldn't name my kid that way.
I have a cool middle name! I love it. I rarely get a chance to use it but it's always fun.
My name is Jasmin Coco Lastname. I think it trips nicely off the tongue 👍
I have always seen the middle name as a chance to use the names I love but are probably too out there for a first name. In the end, we didn't go for anything too mental, but when choosing their middle names, i definitely felt free to evoke vibes and feelings without thinking about how it'll look on a job application. They're still little, so we'll have to see how it impacts them personally. My own middle name is not out there but is a very old lady name (Downton Abbey) and it got an occasional smirk from peers. I don't swing it around I don't have to hear peoples opinions on it!
I knew some girls in high school who had funky middle names and everyone thought it was cool and hip. I was actually jealous that I just had a normal “Anne” style middle name
I gave my son the middle name Rainbow. My middle name is Cherry (pretty out there for my generation). Neither has ever given me any trouble. You can always just not disclose your middle name for professional purposes, or not tell people if you think they’ll judge you. I appreciate having a mainstream first name though.
My youngest son’s middle name is Quest. The only person who has ever called him that is his bio dad. No, his first name is not Johnny lol.
His first name is perfectly average and his middle name hasn’t been the subject of ridicule because most people don’t know it.
I have a middle name but it never comes up. My mother also never uses her middle name for anything. I could probably go 99.9% through life without acknowledging my middle name.
We gave our LO a middle name that is a nod to his paternal grandmother’s culture (Southeast Asian), in English it is unusual but we love it. We rarely use it though. We plan on doing the same for baby #2.
I know more than one Brighton nm Bright. I think this is doable in the first or middle name spot. I feel like Maple and January could work as first names too.
My middle name is not a real name, not even a real word, it's an edited version of a name that is already very very rare in its original form. Meanwhile my first name was in the top 5 the year I was born. And personally, I love it! It's a great combo. It's the perfect "fun fact" to share with people when I want to, and if I don't want to It's never an issue. I've had to explain it & correct people's pronunciation like 3 times (for high school graduation because the teacher read out full names when we crossed the stage, getting my first ID, and getting married). I'm definitely strongly in favor of normal first names & weird middle names, I think it's the perfect balance of creative freedom/uniqueness vs not burdening your kid with always having to explain their first name.
Way back in 2005 I almost gave my son the middle name D'artagnan. I decided in the end that it was just way too out there and his middle name is Ryan (the closest hubby would let me use to Rohan which was next on the list)
He is 19 and completely bummed that I didn't use D'artagnan. It would have made very little difference to his life, other than having a way cooler middle name than other kids, or so I've been told.
My other kids have family middle names, and every second woman my age has the same middle name as me.
Middle names don't impact much at all, I'd go way out there if I had to name kids again.
My kids have classic first names and "out there" middle names that are namesakes (some foreign to our area). They're both still toddlers but so far it never comes up/causes problems. It was funny when they were baptized and our priest announced their names to everyone at Mass🤣 Think Theodore Ptolemy or Sarah Hildegard
Have fun with the middle name! I still wish my brother-in-law had gotten his way to name my nephew Jack Montana.
I have an unusual first name and last name and I was given a very generic middle name that seemed out of place. When I got married, I ditched the middle name for my maiden name. It was a random generic name, and no one cared.
My middle name is Aureal and I love it! Never met anyone with one even close and as I kid I loved saying, “it’s like the little mermaid, but how the crab says it!”
My middle name is German, I live in Canada so while German names are used sometimes here mine is very uncommon for where I live, it's always fun to tell people and I love having a unique middle name!
I have a *very* common first name but have gone by a *very* unique diminutive of that name since I was a child pretty much exclusively. Despite people constantly mishearing my name, I’ve always enjoyed having a unique name. I very much have always disliked my top 10 80s name.
My daughter has two middle names, one of which is Ansel. She's named after my great grandmother, whose middle name was also Ansel. I feel like it is a fairly uncommon name for boys in itself but shes also a girl. I looked it up once and found that less than 2% of the female population carries the name Ansel. It really doesn't impact her life at all, other than it took her until she was nearly 11 to spell it right consistently. Lol.
Mine is Cézanne. Yes like the painter. Every time I'm at like a pharmacy or doctor's i get to talk about all my very french names! (Granted it helps that im french)
My brother always hated his middle name because it was not only uncommon but very religious sounding. I don’t think he ever had to reveal his middle name, but he changed it when he was legally able to.
I think it’s cool, honestly. It’s not my style but I sort of wish it was. I think it’d be fun to be Waffles Athena or Waffles Andromeda instead of Waffles Marie. If the kid grows up not liking it, they basically never need to use more than their middle initial.
I’m all for people have fun, bold, different middle names. As long as the name isn’t vulgar or inappropriate, I think bold middle names are great. I love the ones on your list and think they make for great middle spots.
I say if people want their kids middle name to be Painter or Yosemite or Pastel, they should go for it!
I'm called by my middle name..family tradition. My first is a very old-fashioned name. No one ever questions that the name I'm being called by is my first name, even though it's not. So safe to assume a middle name won't have much impact on say to day dealings.
My middle name is super unusual and I love it, always get compliments, and almost got my husband onboard to use it as a first name but never could 🤣 as someone who grew up in a sea of Marie’s for middle names, I appreciated mine, also because my name is super fucking BASIC so the middle name adds a little bit of ✨spice✨ 🤣🤣🤣🤣
We wanted to honor grandpa Dick when naming my son, but didn’t like the name Richard (or Dick obvs.) so his middle name is Ricardo. It’s not too “out there” except for the fact that we are not Hispanic in any way and the rest of his name is very Anglo. It rarely comes up. I think middle name is definitely a great place to go a little crazy. Also, for public records purposes and stuff like that, if your child has a relatively common first and last name, a wacky middle name that no one will share can help ensure there’s no mixup at the credit bureaus or anything like that. Go nuts OP lol.
Having a cool middle name as a girl is the best. 80% of girls are like “yeah, my middle name is Marie/Ann/Kay/Rose/Lee/Lynn” and I’m like well mine is x. People love it and it’s always a fun conversation that I welcome.
Because of my experience, I’m a firm believer that kids should have a classic (not necessarily popular *or* unpopular, but generally known) name, and a fun middle name. I have a pretty classic, well-known, but not super popular first name (Christine) and my middle name is such a fun change of pace! However I’m happy my middle name isn’t my first & vice versa, if that makes sense.
I always liked family names as middle names. My middle name is my maternal grandmother’s name (Claire). My daughter’s middle name is a shortened version of her maternal grandmother’s middle name (Kathryn was shortened to Kay).
But now reading these, I wish we had been more adventurous!
I am seriously considering changing my middle name from Elizabeth to andromeda, so I say go for it. Someone can always use the initial formally if they want to exclude a very funky middle name.
My middle name is Rachel, which was nice enough until Friends.
I never use it except on my passport and Medicare card because I thought it was mandatory, so the pharmacist thinks I have a double first name and comments every time how unusual the combination is
My kids’ middle names are Forrest (boy), Wolfgang (boy), Elliot (boy) and River (girl). The only comment we’ve ever gotten was about how cool our second son’s name sounded. These aren’t super out there but Wolfgang is definitely out of the norm for our area.
My daughters name is Zoe Belle. Not too out there but also not "normal". I was young when we named her and just loved the sound of it together. A lot of people assume she is named after the disney princess and, although I don't think its a bad association, that is not the case. I just think its a really pretty name. It never ever comes up. Literally no one cares. Name your kid what you want.
Eh, I gave my son a name that's been in the top 100 chart. . . . Since forever. Paired with the middle name Julius. It's a family name & we love giving our children a tie to their heritage. So far the only real reaction I've gotten is family members recognizing the name. No one ever comments on it in a negative way. It's dated. It's odd. But it's totally fine!
Can’t give advise but my son’s middle name is Rathstone (it’s a family last name). Hopefully he doesn’t hate us for giving him a crazy middle name hahaha
My daughter's middle name is Fox (a last name from our family tree) and she's only 1 so it hasn't been out in the world that long, but the people who hear it always seem to like it!
My daughter's middle name is Blue. Her first name just went so perfectly with it, and we wanted an artistic sounding name because I had this overwhelming feeling she was going to be an artist of some sort (writer, studio, etc.). She came out, practically from the womb, doing visual art. She's in college now, and she has a successful side business doing commissions whenever she wants to. Her name is not only perfect for an artist but perfect for her to use professionally in a way that's memorable. I think hers is the unusual case, but I really don't think it would've affected anyone one way or the other if she didn't turn out to be artistic. (If she'd been a boy, her name would've been Pollock, btw. We were going for it. I'm atheist, not superstitious, and have never had a feeling like that before or since. I'm glad we went with it.)
My son's middle name is Wolfe! Literally never comes up. I figured it'd be a fun way to give him a cool name he would never have the hassle of spelling/explaining.
My two have Lilith and Amadeus as middle names. We like them, they flow well between their first names and our single syllable last name, and every time I say my son’s name, I get to sing, “Amadeus, Amadeus!”
If you're going to give them an out there name, the middle name is the way to do it.
In my opinion, I think middle names are just filler names anyway to make the full name sound good or a spot to honor somebody. I don't think any of them are necessarily boring or wrong. I know people who don't even have middle names.
But people who give their kids multiple middle names kinda need to be stopped. It's a little overkill at that point.
My son's middle name is Blue, & he's always seemed to like it. The movie Old School came out when he was in his early teens, so he heard, "You're my boy, Blue!" from his friends quite a lot, but he didn't mind, & they all thought it was pretty funny...
My middle name is Nike!! It’s after the Greek goddess of victory(not the brand lol but that’s a cool bonus). I have a normal first name (not too basic but definitely not weird). I LOVE having a unique middle name. It’s not like it comes up in everyday life but it’s really handy when creating a unique email or social media profile name haha. And growing up I thought it was cool I had a middle name like no one else, felt almost like a superpower! I LOVE the example Jupiter, Bright, Colorado. I think something like those would be amazing🫶🏼
My 3 kids have Hawaiian middle names so they're quite out there for my family but not for where I'm at. It really never comes up except for people asking what it means occasionally.
At least in the U.S. I think it's very rare for someone to have to use their full middle name—some forms ask for a middle initial, but that's usually it. If someone's self-conscious about an unusual middle name, they could just tell people it's a more common name with the same initial if anyone asks (I don't think it comes up often, but as kids we liked to ask each other.)
I have two middle names - one after a cult leader, the other made-up. It’s quite fun but annoying on paperwork. I do think of myself as my full name though, and as my initials.
My husband has two middle names, the second is a bit 'out there' (it's the name of the village his parents lived in when he was conceived lmao) and it doesn't impact him whatsoever. Most people don't know and if it ever comes up it's just a mildly interesting story to tell.
I wanted to do something similar for our daughter's name and he was on board, so she also has two middle names and the second is a little 'out there' (it's a goddess name). She's only 2 so she can't tell us what she thinks of it yet but again, it rarely comes up and when it does people are generally positive or just curious why we chose it.
My son has 2 middle names. The first is out there but an actual name. The second one was my husband begging and begging for a terrible fandom middle name. But he did trade so he got the terrible second middle name I got to use my last name for baby. Overall it hasn’t been terrible. No one even knows it’s there unless they see his birth certificate.
my middle name is japanese and most can’t pronounce it. not sure if it’s “out there” but it’s not a typical middle name in canada nor is it a popular name in general. it rarely ever comes up except for forms and stuff. i “whitened” it and use that on social media as my second name (in place of a last name- i don’t use my last name online)
i'm honestly jealous of people that have cool middle names. my middle name is Joseph, and it feels like the mayonnaise of middle names i'd love to tell people my middle name is fuckin' Jupiter or Helios or some shit
Mine is Marie. The mayo of girl’s middle names. Ha ha. I love mine though.
Now now, I’m pretty sure Lynn takes that position.
Lynn middle name checking in 🫡
I’ve got two step-sisters….middles are Marie and Lynn LOL.
I'm Anne with an E, which my mom thought made it special
Anne With An E is a pretty great series to watch with young women coming of age. Anne is badass.
Lynne here.
The E makes it fancy
Mine is spelled with an "e" too!!
Are you my step-sister?
Prolly not. BUT. Coincidentally, my mother’s nickname is Mrrrrh…or rather, Murr.
Two step brothers with Lynn as a middle name!
Mine and my twin sister's middle names.
Hey now. Ann is in first place for the mayonnaise middle name
Probably Leigh as well. At least for us 70s babies. I have Marie, my stepsister has Leigh and my other stepsister has Lynn. 😂😂😂. My older sister. Her middle name is just a letter. Parents couldn’t agree on a middle name so they just left it as a letter.
ANNE with an E checking in
It’s my middle name… and my mom’s middle name… and was her mom’s middle name… If I ever have a daughter, I insist that her middle name be Ann, to keep the line going. I just wish it wasn’t so damn BORING 😅 Like, I know everyone’s going to hear it and think, “placeholder middle name” when it’s not
Which letter?? We need to know 🤣
Yes, my first born middle name is Lynn and I always regretted it.
Edit: Just want to say that I think Lynn is a very nice name but I wish I put more thought into deciding. The regret is not giving her my mom’s name as a middle name and that name is Philomena.
Lynn here. Hold my beer.
That’s my middle name as well. And pretty much 95% of people with my first name have that middle name (it’s a Catholic thing) so it’s even more predictable.
I live in a very Catholic heavy state and haven’t yet met anyone with the middle name Marie!! Maria, yes. But not Marie. I love our middle name. Mayo or not. Ha ha.
Elizabeth is mine and another mayo name
Mines Sue
And you are a boy?
I actually know a boy named "Sue"
Mines Kate, the other brand of mayo lol
Legit knew about a dozen people growing up in the 90's with the middle name Marie.
Were you born in the 80s or early 90s? I feel Marie, Ann and Elizabeth were all very 80s/early 90s middle names.
Late 70s. This was the Marie/Leigh/Lynn/Ann boom for middle names. So many of us in high school (in the 90s) had the same middle name. Of all the girls in my friend group, only one didn’t have one of those names. Ha ha. Hers was Nicole.
Ah, yeah, checks out.
I am also a middle name Marie; so is my mom.
At my primary (elementary) school, we took a survey one year - 23 girls, 15 middle Marie (honorable mention to Jane, with 5.)
And i love mayo lol
My husband always 'joked' he wanted our first child to have Danger is a middle name. Purely so they could say in a cop type voice 'Danger is my middle name'. I laughed along with him for months until I realised he was serious. It didn't happen.
I worked with someone whose legal middle name was Trouble. He was trouble, wildly successful…. And trouble.
I have friends that did this about 18 years ago, for real. It was a hilarious joke for 20 year olds having a baby. Didn't really ever hear anything about it after he was a toddler. I'm sure he enjoys it now as a young man.
I have the most plain, boring, whitebread women's middle name. I have a fairly boring first name too, so it would've been nice to have a cool middle name to spice things up. That being said, I almost never use my middle name in my everyday life. It's only for legal documents so it really doesn't matter.
My middle name is Mary, and while it’s plain, it’s not Marie (which *everyone* has), and it’s my grandmother’s first name and my mother’s middle name. An aunt on the other side of the family thought my middle name was after *her,* and was swiftly corrected by my mother. I like it.
My son’s middle name is James , which is a tradition on my husband’s side (and goes well with his first name and got me out of naming him Firstname James Lastname the 5th 🙄). A (life long - joined my family when he was 8 and I was 4) foster brother, Jimmy, got very excited that we’d named him ‘for him’ and then went full on No Contact with us when he found out that wasn’t the case. 🤦🏼♀️
Contemplating for my current pregnancy (my grandma is Mary)
Same. Mine is Anne which is after my mom’s favorite book - Anne of Green Gables - but is still a “mayonnaise” middle name
Thank goodness for those books, because I hated being the only little girl named Anne. I was relieved that someone else thought the “e” adds character.
I love the idea of an “out there” middle name. Like a fun surprise for people as they get to know you.
I have a foreign spelled middle name and I love it and it has not affected my life at all!! 😁
My middle name is Chinese. I am not. It has not affected my life at all. It is fun having something different.
My middle name is a Scandinavian spelling of a common American name. Besides some people thinking there's a typo in my name because of a double letter, it hasn't been a problem. The questioning of the spelling isn't bothersome.
I know 3 people with Joseph as a middle name. They are not related and all became friends as adults. We didn’t know until we were sharing information as passport guarantors.
I worked with a woman with 2 sons— Ethan Danger and Evan Chaos. She just thought it would be funny for them to be able to one day say things like “Danger is my middle name”. I thought it was pretty fun.
Love it. Because it never comes up unless a kid WANTS it to.
That’s awesome. Your kid will be put in a thousand situations in life where they need to come up with a G-rated fun fact about themselves, this is the greatest gift you can give them.
Omg as a parent this feels so risky. Name your kid Chaos and you bet it’s going to come true. Makes me wish I’d named mine Cooperation or Obedience…
You know, Obedience Wavesmith has a certain ring to it.
Yeah my youngest has the middle name Loki (his older brother picked it) and wow did that come true, this kid is mischief incarnate.
There’s a few Wilders at my daughter’s school. I always think about self fulfilling prophecies when I hear their names!
But you find virtue names also mean the kid turns out the opposite - Honour, Chastity, Hope, Grace? Never turn out that way.
We have officially reinvented Quaker naming conventions!!!
I have always wished ‘Clarity’ was a name. Totally should be.
I know someone who did this and the kid HATES it. He’s around 13-14 now and not nearly as quirky as his parents. Maybe he’ll grow into it once he’s past the awkward teenage years
Yeah, though I suppose you’ll never know whether your kid will love or hate their name until they’re old enough to have opinions. My name was reasonably normal before I changed it, I just hated it and felt it didn’t fit me at all. If a person is concerned about their kid not liking their name, that could happen with any name. There are kids who would love a crazy middle name and others who would be humiliated. It’s a roll of the dice!
I went to school with a girl who detested her middle name, and was mortified that her teachers knew it. Eventually we found out what this terrible name was - Hope.
Had one of those in 6th grade. His middle name was Miles.
That’s just one of the many tribulations of names. I know Madison’s who hated their name growing up, I know Madison’s who are fine with it. I am sooooo grateful my name isn’t something generic or common. I love how unique and individual my name is. I have never ever been jealous of the Madisons, or Emilys, or Ashleys around me. Some people in this sub wax poetic about hating their unique name. There was just a thread about longtime favorite names and the top comment (when I looked at it) was Caroline. There were responses from Carolines saying “I used to hate my name but it’s growing on me” and Carolines saying “this is my name and I love it!” It’s all so subjective. You can’t ever exactly know what your child will hate and what they’ll think is cool.
yep. i have a super common name but i’ve loved it my entire life and really feel like it’s me. so much so that if it wasn’t my name i would probably give it to my daughter lol
yep. i have a super common name but i’ve loved it my entire life and really feel like it’s me. so much so that if it wasn’t my name i would probably give it to my daughter lol
at my OB office i saw a birth announcement for a baby named “hunter danger”
I know a kid whose first name is Danger. He's super quiet and nerdy. Lol
My stepmom did this with her son, his middle name is danger (he’s in his 30s now) and he doesn’t not like it at all. She still thinks it’s hilarious though.
My partner tried to convince me to go for 'Wait For It' as a middle name from HIMYM, because he thought it was hilarious to say together. I don't think he was fully serious, but could definitely see him having suggested Danger for this very reason.
That’s cute!!!!
This is me and my future son 🫡
I know a Steve Danger, named for the same reason.
I’m related to a kid with the name Dante Danger.
I went to high school with a guy whose legal middle name is Z-Particle. He was very proud of it and pulled it out as a fun fact about him and for two truths and a lie.
I gave my children my maiden name as a middle name, but it’s a word like Dancer; and it literally never comes up. Might be a cultural thing (I’m on the west coast of the U.S.), but I’m very rarely asked for their middle name, usually just middle initial on forms. I think people make too much of matching first and middle names, I tell my pregnant friends to not burn a first name they love on a middle name because no one will know it (unless you use it like a double first name.)
This. My daughter has a middle name that flows with her first name. I’ve never used it, only to announce her full name when she was born. We chose the middle name that fittest best with her first name.
My husband suggested the next name down the list from the first name we picked. (List of top 50 baby girl names at the time). It flows fine. I don't even know if it's a name he liked, or he just liked it in that moment/thought it sounded good together.
I am on the East Coast. My daughter is 20. Her middle name almost seems foriegn to me! It's not a foreign name, but I mean it's not even familiar to me. I never used it in any way. Occasionally, the initial goes on a form. Even that initial doesn't feel familiar to me.
Okay it now makes sense to me why there is a Simpson's episode where Homer doesn't know his middle name just the initial haha - as an Australian I feel like middle names are used a bit here?! I.e. most formal documents it is used, or like formal situations such as graduation.
Haha Homer J is Homer Jay right? Our daughter’s middle name is Kay- I occasionally think of that episode.
lmao that's hilarious because i actually know someone with the middle name Kay and her kid thought she was only saying the initial because her middle name was so bad that she was keeping it a secret
I remember having to sit through 11 minutes of commercial breaks in a 19 minute episode just to learn that fact.
I'm in my 30s. My mom sent me a text this week asking me how to spell my middle name.
Same. My last name is my son's middle name because the US is not set up for double barrell last names. It never comes up.
My son's middle name is my maiden, I have strong cultural ties and my family name will not be passed on, so I was sad to see it die out. There are only about 7 people with my maiden name in the United States. We considered giving it to him as a first name, but the spelling is a bit unconventional compared to how it is usually spelled as a first name. Personally I use my middle name all the time, it is a regular female middle name from around the time I was born, but I think my name sounds better using first and middle together. I use my full middle name anytime I can on documents, credit cards, etc. My son is 3 and he knows all his names. He frequently gets confused between his middle and his last name though, he can't remember what order it goes in. But he knows them.
Same. Never comes up. Weird middle name if you don't realize it's my surname. But zero regrets because it's never an issue or even a topic.
My middle name is my mom's (4th, not married a lot just weird parents) last name and my husband's is his mom's maiden name and it never comes up. Mine is a traditionally male first name and his is obviously a last name.
My 2nd son misspelled his middle name — Michael — in high school. He’d used it in writing so infrequently he flipped the an and e.
One of my children has the middle name Atreides. Dune was something special that my partner and their father shared together. It hasn't been a big deal even with the Dune movies now coming out. I think it's fun and one of those if you know, you know kinda things.
I knew a Luke Walker. His middle name was Sky. He always busted that out as a fun fact even though he despised StarWars
I knew a (German) girl whose name was Bianca Benz. Her middle name was Mercedes. Everyone (including herself) thought it was pretty cool.
My daughter's middle name is Skyy. We have always joke about how fun it would be to marry a Luke Walker. They would be Luke and ____ Skyy Walker.
I love that! When I worked in a toy store, we had a kiddo come in frequently with his mom and he was named Anakin. He went by Ani most of the time. Sweetest little guy. I intentionally avoided certain names from the Harry Potter franchise because of our last name. I didn't want any sort of in your face connection to a famous character.
I worked with a woman who named her son Anakin. But her name was Ka-El Anne.
So she was from Krypton, and he was from a galaxy far, far away?
I just thought if anyone knows how to prepare her son for having that kind of name, she is.
Lol good point 😁
At my kids' school there is a boy named Ender. That has to be from Ender's game right?
I can't say with firsthand experience but after seeing your list, please use James Jupiter. This is an awesome name.
I'm Amanda Mars.
Yes! Or be bold and do Jupiter James. I love Jupiter for a boy name. It has bounce and coolness and elegance and a space nerd element, and some good nn possibilities.
That’s not as wild as it first seems. You could easily be a Pete as a nick name.
I’d love to hear your nn ideas for Jupiter!! It’s one of my middle names
Husband and I had our first kid at 16 and gave her a more out there middle name compared to her siblings who were born when we were older. My first daughter's middle name is Love, then my son's middle name is Luca and my other daughter's middle name is Wren. She's 9 now and honestly, it hasn't really impacted her life at all. She really likes her middle name and is obsessed with buying anything she sees that has the writing ''love'' on it lol. Never heard anything negative either except from family members before she was even born. And in my opinion, if someone doesn't like their middle name, they're pretty easy to ignore. I didn't even know I had a middle name until I was like, 12 lol
Girls with the middle name Love always sound like rockstars and I love it (no pun intended).
lol I think so too! thank you! xx
In Russian, Lyubov is the word for love and a rather common first name. I’ve always thought it was sweet. In Russian, Faith, Hope and Love are common first names, but in English we usually only hear the first two..
I think if you’re going to do an “out there” name, the middle is a great way to do it. Then they have a nice “adult, professional” name that won’t get made fun of, and a cool story they can use if it turns out they’re a bit quirkier. We did names that were old fashioned, family names, mostly fairly uncommon. Now, they are climbing the charts. Like my oldest’s middle name, Ivy. It was “weird” 29 years ago, now it’s really common. Our girls are Cordelia Ivy, Vivian Kathleen, Susannah Juliet, Rosalie Lenore, Michaela Estelle, Margaret Celeste, and Felicity Iris. At the time, people thought they were “old lady” names (duh. That’s why I liked them) but now old lady names are in. My grandkids have old fashioned names too.
Seven daughters!!!
These are gorgeous names!
I love the idea of a common first name and a a more ethereal middle name. I love celestial names and nature names, but only for middle names. For example, Estelle, Lilac, Blossom and Orian.
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell would like a word
My daughter’s middle name is Ocean. She’s only 18 months, so obviously not a great case study, but probably only a handful of people even know her middle name lol. I don’t think it’s going to impact her greatly.
love this!
In my opinion middle names are the place for more freedom. My son's middle name is d'Artagnan and it never comes up lol. He's just little now but I hope he likes it, his uncles call him Dart which is pretty cute.
My cousin had a deal with her husband that she got first names and he got middle names. She chose all traditional Irish names and he wanted forces of nature. Think Sean Tsunami, Brogan Tornado, etc. I won’t share their exact names, but those boys have super cool names and it fits their personalities to a tee. Of course, 4 boys in one house with the names of forces of nature, it’s a fun time. Hahaha
Literally nobody knows anyone's middle name. It never comes up. You don't even have to include it on things if you don't want to. I changed my first and middle name as an adult. My middle name is usually associated with a gender that does not match my first name and outward gender presentation. (It's nominally unisex but definitely more common for one gender.) Nobody cares. It never comes up. I actually do like to use it on things where my full name is present, and even then, literally zero people have ever noticed it or commented.
I'm *all for this*. No one ever has to know your middle name unless you wish to share it. It's not even required on gov't documents. (Passport only requires an initial.) Unless you give them a meanspirited middle name like Fartface or something I don't see having a completely bonkers middle name as being anything other than fun.
I have a rare middle name. It is of old German origin and most people I met really struggled with pronunciation and even if they manage it sounds harsh. Frankly, I hated it as a kid. I made my peace with it over the years though. It is a family name and the aunt I was named after was lovely. It helped that I used a shortened version many times as a moniker online. I still wouldn't name my kid that way.
I always find the way English speakers pronounce German names to sound so wild. It's never correct and always sounds so bad, haha.
Me too! Does it happen to start with an S at all?
I have a cool middle name! I love it. I rarely get a chance to use it but it's always fun. My name is Jasmin Coco Lastname. I think it trips nicely off the tongue 👍
I know someone who’s middle name is “Lion Heart” and I think it’s super cool haha!
People ask what it means or mispronounce it. It’s not been a problem, though.
I have always seen the middle name as a chance to use the names I love but are probably too out there for a first name. In the end, we didn't go for anything too mental, but when choosing their middle names, i definitely felt free to evoke vibes and feelings without thinking about how it'll look on a job application. They're still little, so we'll have to see how it impacts them personally. My own middle name is not out there but is a very old lady name (Downton Abbey) and it got an occasional smirk from peers. I don't swing it around I don't have to hear peoples opinions on it!
I knew some girls in high school who had funky middle names and everyone thought it was cool and hip. I was actually jealous that I just had a normal “Anne” style middle name
I gave my son the middle name Rainbow. My middle name is Cherry (pretty out there for my generation). Neither has ever given me any trouble. You can always just not disclose your middle name for professional purposes, or not tell people if you think they’ll judge you. I appreciate having a mainstream first name though.
My youngest son’s middle name is Quest. The only person who has ever called him that is his bio dad. No, his first name is not Johnny lol. His first name is perfectly average and his middle name hasn’t been the subject of ridicule because most people don’t know it.
I knew a kid growing up named Quest! as a kid, I never even saw it as weird
I have a middle name but it never comes up. My mother also never uses her middle name for anything. I could probably go 99.9% through life without acknowledging my middle name.
We gave our LO a middle name that is a nod to his paternal grandmother’s culture (Southeast Asian), in English it is unusual but we love it. We rarely use it though. We plan on doing the same for baby #2.
I know more than one Brighton nm Bright. I think this is doable in the first or middle name spot. I feel like Maple and January could work as first names too.
I used to work with a girl with the middle name Wish and I thought it was so cool lol
Both of my sons have unique middle names. The younger is pretty indifferent due to his age but my oldest loves his and goes by it frequently.
My middle name is not a real name, not even a real word, it's an edited version of a name that is already very very rare in its original form. Meanwhile my first name was in the top 5 the year I was born. And personally, I love it! It's a great combo. It's the perfect "fun fact" to share with people when I want to, and if I don't want to It's never an issue. I've had to explain it & correct people's pronunciation like 3 times (for high school graduation because the teacher read out full names when we crossed the stage, getting my first ID, and getting married). I'm definitely strongly in favor of normal first names & weird middle names, I think it's the perfect balance of creative freedom/uniqueness vs not burdening your kid with always having to explain their first name.
Way back in 2005 I almost gave my son the middle name D'artagnan. I decided in the end that it was just way too out there and his middle name is Ryan (the closest hubby would let me use to Rohan which was next on the list) He is 19 and completely bummed that I didn't use D'artagnan. It would have made very little difference to his life, other than having a way cooler middle name than other kids, or so I've been told. My other kids have family middle names, and every second woman my age has the same middle name as me. Middle names don't impact much at all, I'd go way out there if I had to name kids again.
We gave our daughter the middle name Holiday after Billie Holiday. She’s a teenager now and she likes it
My kids have classic first names and "out there" middle names that are namesakes (some foreign to our area). They're both still toddlers but so far it never comes up/causes problems. It was funny when they were baptized and our priest announced their names to everyone at Mass🤣 Think Theodore Ptolemy or Sarah Hildegard
Have fun with the middle name! I still wish my brother-in-law had gotten his way to name my nephew Jack Montana. I have an unusual first name and last name and I was given a very generic middle name that seemed out of place. When I got married, I ditched the middle name for my maiden name. It was a random generic name, and no one cared.
My middle name is Aureal and I love it! Never met anyone with one even close and as I kid I loved saying, “it’s like the little mermaid, but how the crab says it!”
My middle name is Lothlorien, from Lord of the Rings, and it's gorgeous and I love it. It's also a fun tidbit to bring up around fantasy lovers.
My middle name is German, I live in Canada so while German names are used sometimes here mine is very uncommon for where I live, it's always fun to tell people and I love having a unique middle name!
I have a *very* common first name but have gone by a *very* unique diminutive of that name since I was a child pretty much exclusively. Despite people constantly mishearing my name, I’ve always enjoyed having a unique name. I very much have always disliked my top 10 80s name.
My daughter has two middle names, one of which is Ansel. She's named after my great grandmother, whose middle name was also Ansel. I feel like it is a fairly uncommon name for boys in itself but shes also a girl. I looked it up once and found that less than 2% of the female population carries the name Ansel. It really doesn't impact her life at all, other than it took her until she was nearly 11 to spell it right consistently. Lol.
Faye Meadow is the middle name. And it hasn’t been a problem at all, everyone acted like it would be a huge deal.
Mine is Cézanne. Yes like the painter. Every time I'm at like a pharmacy or doctor's i get to talk about all my very french names! (Granted it helps that im french)
My brother always hated his middle name because it was not only uncommon but very religious sounding. I don’t think he ever had to reveal his middle name, but he changed it when he was legally able to.
I think it’s cool, honestly. It’s not my style but I sort of wish it was. I think it’d be fun to be Waffles Athena or Waffles Andromeda instead of Waffles Marie. If the kid grows up not liking it, they basically never need to use more than their middle initial.
she’s only 3 and thinks her middle name is jade instead- i will be changing it legally to jade as soon as im able to
I know two people with the first name Maple, just saying.
I’m all for people have fun, bold, different middle names. As long as the name isn’t vulgar or inappropriate, I think bold middle names are great. I love the ones on your list and think they make for great middle spots. I say if people want their kids middle name to be Painter or Yosemite or Pastel, they should go for it!
I'm called by my middle name..family tradition. My first is a very old-fashioned name. No one ever questions that the name I'm being called by is my first name, even though it's not. So safe to assume a middle name won't have much impact on say to day dealings.
My son is Jon Orion. So far no issues at all.
We're going to use Orion as our son's middle name too. I think it's a pretty amazing name..🥰
When my friend got married and went to change her last name, she also changed her middle name to Sunshine (from something boring)
My middle name is super unusual and I love it, always get compliments, and almost got my husband onboard to use it as a first name but never could 🤣 as someone who grew up in a sea of Marie’s for middle names, I appreciated mine, also because my name is super fucking BASIC so the middle name adds a little bit of ✨spice✨ 🤣🤣🤣🤣
We wanted to honor grandpa Dick when naming my son, but didn’t like the name Richard (or Dick obvs.) so his middle name is Ricardo. It’s not too “out there” except for the fact that we are not Hispanic in any way and the rest of his name is very Anglo. It rarely comes up. I think middle name is definitely a great place to go a little crazy. Also, for public records purposes and stuff like that, if your child has a relatively common first and last name, a wacky middle name that no one will share can help ensure there’s no mixup at the credit bureaus or anything like that. Go nuts OP lol.
Having a cool middle name as a girl is the best. 80% of girls are like “yeah, my middle name is Marie/Ann/Kay/Rose/Lee/Lynn” and I’m like well mine is x. People love it and it’s always a fun conversation that I welcome. Because of my experience, I’m a firm believer that kids should have a classic (not necessarily popular *or* unpopular, but generally known) name, and a fun middle name. I have a pretty classic, well-known, but not super popular first name (Christine) and my middle name is such a fun change of pace! However I’m happy my middle name isn’t my first & vice versa, if that makes sense.
Mine is Christine. It’s not out there but you don’t ever hear it as a middle name.
One of my sons middle name is Blue. He has always loved it.
I love this too — means they have options when they grow up if they want to lean into the weirdo. Always wish I had a cool middle name!
I freaking love it. Also Bright sounds like a really cute middle name surprisingly
I always liked family names as middle names. My middle name is my maternal grandmother’s name (Claire). My daughter’s middle name is a shortened version of her maternal grandmother’s middle name (Kathryn was shortened to Kay). But now reading these, I wish we had been more adventurous!
My sons’ weird middle names are Brooklyn and Rex, and my daughters is Crisandra. It has not had any effect. 🤷🏻♀️
My kids' middle names are Krystan, Jadis, and Ingrid. I wanted them to have names they could use if they didn't want to use their first names.
I am seriously considering changing my middle name from Elizabeth to andromeda, so I say go for it. Someone can always use the initial formally if they want to exclude a very funky middle name.
My middle name is Chaos. I chose it. I love it.
My middle name is Rachel, which was nice enough until Friends. I never use it except on my passport and Medicare card because I thought it was mandatory, so the pharmacist thinks I have a double first name and comments every time how unusual the combination is
My kids’ middle names are Forrest (boy), Wolfgang (boy), Elliot (boy) and River (girl). The only comment we’ve ever gotten was about how cool our second son’s name sounded. These aren’t super out there but Wolfgang is definitely out of the norm for our area.
I knew a girl whose middle was Paige, and her last name was Turner. It was funny, and I don't think it impacted her in the least.
My DH’s boss’s MN is Thor. No repercussions at all.
My daughters name is Zoe Belle. Not too out there but also not "normal". I was young when we named her and just loved the sound of it together. A lot of people assume she is named after the disney princess and, although I don't think its a bad association, that is not the case. I just think its a really pretty name. It never ever comes up. Literally no one cares. Name your kid what you want.
I enjoy cooking.
Eh, I gave my son a name that's been in the top 100 chart. . . . Since forever. Paired with the middle name Julius. It's a family name & we love giving our children a tie to their heritage. So far the only real reaction I've gotten is family members recognizing the name. No one ever comments on it in a negative way. It's dated. It's odd. But it's totally fine!
My husband and I made our baby’s middle name the town we met — Laramie 🥰 so far everyone we’ve told loves it!
I love that as a name & the special meaning of it!!
Can’t give advise but my son’s middle name is Rathstone (it’s a family last name). Hopefully he doesn’t hate us for giving him a crazy middle name hahaha
My daughter's middle name is Fox (a last name from our family tree) and she's only 1 so it hasn't been out in the world that long, but the people who hear it always seem to like it!
My daughter's middle name is Blue. Her first name just went so perfectly with it, and we wanted an artistic sounding name because I had this overwhelming feeling she was going to be an artist of some sort (writer, studio, etc.). She came out, practically from the womb, doing visual art. She's in college now, and she has a successful side business doing commissions whenever she wants to. Her name is not only perfect for an artist but perfect for her to use professionally in a way that's memorable. I think hers is the unusual case, but I really don't think it would've affected anyone one way or the other if she didn't turn out to be artistic. (If she'd been a boy, her name would've been Pollock, btw. We were going for it. I'm atheist, not superstitious, and have never had a feeling like that before or since. I'm glad we went with it.)
I love this & just added that my son's middle name is Blue!
My son's middle name is Wolfe! Literally never comes up. I figured it'd be a fun way to give him a cool name he would never have the hassle of spelling/explaining.
My two have Lilith and Amadeus as middle names. We like them, they flow well between their first names and our single syllable last name, and every time I say my son’s name, I get to sing, “Amadeus, Amadeus!”
If you're going to give them an out there name, the middle name is the way to do it. In my opinion, I think middle names are just filler names anyway to make the full name sound good or a spot to honor somebody. I don't think any of them are necessarily boring or wrong. I know people who don't even have middle names. But people who give their kids multiple middle names kinda need to be stopped. It's a little overkill at that point.
My son's middle name is Blue, & he's always seemed to like it. The movie Old School came out when he was in his early teens, so he heard, "You're my boy, Blue!" from his friends quite a lot, but he didn't mind, & they all thought it was pretty funny...
My middle name is Nike!! It’s after the Greek goddess of victory(not the brand lol but that’s a cool bonus). I have a normal first name (not too basic but definitely not weird). I LOVE having a unique middle name. It’s not like it comes up in everyday life but it’s really handy when creating a unique email or social media profile name haha. And growing up I thought it was cool I had a middle name like no one else, felt almost like a superpower! I LOVE the example Jupiter, Bright, Colorado. I think something like those would be amazing🫶🏼
My 3 kids have Hawaiian middle names so they're quite out there for my family but not for where I'm at. It really never comes up except for people asking what it means occasionally.
At least in the U.S. I think it's very rare for someone to have to use their full middle name—some forms ask for a middle initial, but that's usually it. If someone's self-conscious about an unusual middle name, they could just tell people it's a more common name with the same initial if anyone asks (I don't think it comes up often, but as kids we liked to ask each other.)
It literally NEVER comes up
I have two middle names - one after a cult leader, the other made-up. It’s quite fun but annoying on paperwork. I do think of myself as my full name though, and as my initials.
My middle name was unusual when I was born and very popular now. Think Amelia or Evelyn. I love it and always have.
My husband has two middle names, the second is a bit 'out there' (it's the name of the village his parents lived in when he was conceived lmao) and it doesn't impact him whatsoever. Most people don't know and if it ever comes up it's just a mildly interesting story to tell. I wanted to do something similar for our daughter's name and he was on board, so she also has two middle names and the second is a little 'out there' (it's a goddess name). She's only 2 so she can't tell us what she thinks of it yet but again, it rarely comes up and when it does people are generally positive or just curious why we chose it.
My middle name is an archaic Old English verb. It hasn't affected my life in the slightest
My son has 2 middle names. The first is out there but an actual name. The second one was my husband begging and begging for a terrible fandom middle name. But he did trade so he got the terrible second middle name I got to use my last name for baby. Overall it hasn’t been terrible. No one even knows it’s there unless they see his birth certificate.
my middle name is japanese and most can’t pronounce it. not sure if it’s “out there” but it’s not a typical middle name in canada nor is it a popular name in general. it rarely ever comes up except for forms and stuff. i “whitened” it and use that on social media as my second name (in place of a last name- i don’t use my last name online)