Once upon a time, when I was eight years old, I came home from school bitterly disappointed and demanded of my mother "Why don't I have the middle name Louise? All the other girls in my class do!"
"All" was a bit of an exaggeration, however, there were at least eleven girls in the class who had that middle name. At the time I felt as if I had been left out in the name stakes, but a little while later I began to appreciate my uniqueness. No one else in the class had my middle name. There was one girl in the class with the middle name Lynette, and another, Jacqueline - I thought these highly exotic.
Ann(e), Elizabeth, Jane, Louise and Marie reigned supreme as middle names from the 60s onward. These middles are still incredibly popular today, although Rose, Grace and May are fast becoming the new "it" middle names.
For boys the picture is a lot more static. John, James and William have been the standard middle names for the majority of the twentieth century.
The General Register Office for Scotland very generously list the top 10 most popular second names (2010, 2009, 2008). Elizabeth, Louise, James and John are consistently popular and in 2010 they stated "the top ten second names for boys and girls are the same as the previous five years with just a few minor changes in ranking."
Often these overly used middle names are typified as being "filler". These fillers are considered to be names used in the middle spot simply to "fill" the space in lieu of anything better. It fits in the "we just thought it sounded nice" or "we couldn't think of anything else" camps.
The simple reality is that they are popular names, fitting contemporary trends, that sound good with almost any name. More often than not they are passed down through the generations. Other popular middle names include Claire, Jo, Kate, Alexander, David and Jay. I defy you to find a name that doesn't ring lyrically with at least one of the names listed so far.
The disadvantage is that, when paired with a popular first name, you end up with a name that thousands of others share.
So, for those of you who are in search of a middle name that has that elusive lyrical quality, but want to avoid the popularly used set, here are a few to consider:
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Adele Bess Carys Delphine Fleur |
Gwen Liv Maeve Pearl Tess |
Abram Bryn Colm Hugh Jude |
Keir Leif Reid Rex Saul |
And for short first names, these longer names can provide a nice sense of balance.
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Beatrice Clementine Constance Genevieve Jessamine |
Lucille Marguerite Mireille Primrose Vivienne |
Atticus August Beckett Benedict Cassius |
Julius Maximilian Roderick Thaddeus Theodore |
