Middle names
What is the significance of middle names for males and females. I have a Wiliamina Innes Ross and an Archibald McNab Ross. None of the other family have middle names and I haven't seen many with other names.
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If you search these family branches it is likely the middle names will occur as an ancestor's or a relative's surname in previous generations. I have seen middle names given to children based on more distant relatives, even the surnames of brothers-in-law in one case, or even friends of the family, but that is rarer.
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Middle names are given for many reasons
- Tradition or family lineage
- Adding more uniqueness to your name
- Honoring someone who has passed away and is still loved by those left behind
- Honoring your family
- Avoiding having a "junior" or sharing a first name with a relative
- Landing an au courant name, since vintage names are increasing in popularity.
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Middle names being set to surnames seems to be a habit that I see more of in Scotland, but even there it seems to be confined to certain families (in the broadest sense). Typically, my lot would use a surname as a middle name that was a maiden name for a close relative. As more children appeared in a particular family, then they would run out of close relatives' names and so (maybe) the later children had no middle name.
My GG-GF had 6 children from his 1st marriage. All had middle names based on maiden names for relatives (in no particular order) but the last child repeated that of the first.
The 5 children from the 2nd marriage got a bit more difficult. The 1st two had middle names, then they must have given up because the next 2 only had one given name - only the last reverted to having a middle name but that was really because she was named for her aunt who already had the middle name.
So really, not a lot of reasoning behind the choices - just a case of "It seemed like a good idea at the time!" 😉
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