Monkey in the Middle

» rahunter_nf - Middle Names

Kristen, you observed that less thought is usually put into middle names than first names. Actually, no thought goes into the middle names of females in the part of the Philippines from which my wife came. Before marriage a female's middle name is her mother's maiden name. After marriage her middle name is her mother's married name.

You also observed that middle names may become the key to telling two students apart. One year I had two boys in my class with the same first name and the same surname. Fortunately their middle names were different!

-- posted by rahunter_nf

Permalink Print Discussion Join the latest discussions

» Kristen Cardozo - Re: Middle Names

In response to message posted by rahunter_nf:

Oh dear! I replied to this a while back, but it apparently didn't post.

I'll try again.

Thank you for sharing another naming tradition. My husband is Venezuelan, and there are some interesting Latin and South American traditions having to do with maiden and married names as well. While the child is likely to have at least one middle name selected by his or her parents, he also will have two last names, first his father's name, then his mother's. A boy will retain both last names for his whole life. A girl retains her father's name after marriage and adds her husband's. I ended up continuing the tradition. I chose to add my husband's name to mine. My children, however, are Cardozo Hanley. It gets a little confusing, but I liked the fact that they got both names, and what the order signified. My husband wants to add my last name to his, so he'll have three at that point. He only uses Cardozo, however.

-- posted by Kristen Cardozo

Permalink Print Discussion Join the latest discussions