Names: My newspaper column -- this week featuring poles, baskets, and manga

[Hereward]

But on the top 100 list for boys in England and Wales in 2009 (latest year available)

Not any more.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14321666

[The Iceman of the North]

Not any more.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14321666

Eh, could you find a more reliable source?

[Ormond]

Eh, could you find a more reliable source?

Are you trying to be facetious or sarcastic?

What Hereward linked to was a BBC report which itself includes a link to the actual report put out by the England & Wales government office of statistics. How could you have a more reliable source? :dunno:

[MinDonner]

(Hereward works for the BBC :) )

[BLU-RAY]

Yep. I'm a Michael Paul Thomas Joseph.

Wow. So, as someone who tries to live according to the maxim, "Never trust anyone with two first names", do I need to double or square my mistrust of you?

:-P

[Whitestripe]

Funny that. My middle name is Lynn and my sister's is Ann. We are gen-x instead of boomers.

[Gertrude]

As a Gen X, I'd say I see Anne and Lynne (forgot about Lynne!) as some of the more common middle names along with other short syllable names. (Jo, Rae). I'm bucking the trend as I am a Jenifer Rebeka (3 syllable last name). It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. (I was named after a

though, so all is forgiven)

[mouse]

My purely anecdotal/personal experience has also been that Ann(e), Lynn, and Marie were the big middle names for Gen X'ers. Most girls I knew growing up had one of those names. Even today, I've had people randomly attribute the middle initial "M" (presumably for Marie) to my name.

I saddled my poor daughter with a four-syllable first and four-syllable middle name.

[Starkess]

Mine as well, but I don't require silent letters ;)

I do not know what this heretical name to which you refer is! ;)

I was actually given my mother's middle name for a first name. Is that common?

I don't know, but that is my plan in the crazy event it ever is an issue.

[Deedles]

Heh, another Anne as a middle name here. I got lucky with my first name - Deirdre. My father wanted to name me Jane, my mother wanted to name me Portia. My grandmother won.

Are family names still very common? My maternal great grandfather was Hugh, 2 of my maternal uncles have Hugh as a middle name, my younger brother also has Hugh as a middle name. I must say, I like it a lot, and if I did have a male child, would consider it.

My older brother is named after my father - Noel. Which is fine for Dad who was born just before Christmas. My brother was born in May though, so not quite seasonal.

[Starkess]

Are family names still very common? My maternal great grandfather was Hugh, 2 of my maternal uncles have Hugh as a middle name, my younger brother also has Hugh as a middle name. I must say, I like it a lot, and if I did have a male child, would consider it.

My family is on the fourth Storm (my dad's dad, my dad, my brother, and my nephew). And my father-in-law and my ex have the same first name--both go by their middle names. So I think it's still pretty common, in my incredibly accurate sample size of 2 families. :)

[brook]

Are family names still very common? My maternal great grandfather was Hugh, 2 of my maternal uncles have Hugh as a middle name, my younger brother also has Hugh as a middle name. I must say, I like it a lot, and if I did have a male child, would consider it.

All of my kids have family names for middle names. My 4 year olds middle name is after his grandfather but there has been a Reginald (first or middle name) in every generation of my family for as far back as we can trace. I thought that was worth preserving.

About 75% of the male half of my stepdads family is John or Michael, they nearly all go by middle names. That one doesn't seem to have been continued though because the only one of the latest generation have either name is my nephew and thats only a middle name.

[Gertrude]

My cousin's son is the 6th Wesley (well, it was anglicized from Vaclav > Wencil > Wesley, but it's the thought, right?). If my mother could re-name us kids, she would have given us family names. Two of my best friends have family names - one is full first and middle, the other is a middle name that has been passed down. So yeah, in my experience, while not entirely common, not that unusual.

[LindaElane]

Oh, lovely column, thanks much!

I have the middle name of Ann. Being inclined to genealogy, I checked the family names of ancestors whose middle names I know. I tend to just know first names, or first names and middle initials. Most except the three latter who are Germans and kept good records, were born on this side of the pond. But here is what I know:

Linda Ann (me), Marjorie Charlotte (mom), Mildred Nadine (grandmother b. 1907), Mamie Lou (grandmother born 1904), Ada Belle (g-grandmother b. 1880), Fanny Reed (g-grandmother, Reed last name of her grandmother b. 1978), Julia Lavinia (g-grandmother b. 1878), Ada Francis (g-grandmother, b. 1886), Cinthia Catherine (gg-grandmother b 1858), Susan Arminda (Arminda's origin unknown, can you help? Maybe a family name but we do not know), Martha Hannah (ggg-grandmother b. 1824), Susannah Wesley (No Wesley family and not known as devout Methodists, but oh well...gggg-grandmother, b.c. 1789), Mary Ann (gggg-grandmother, b. c. 1780), Jane Virginia (ggggg-grandmother, b.1767...yep Virginia. and yep, back to Jamestowne), Nancy Elizabeth (ggggg-grandmother b. 1748), Mary Ann (ggggg-grandmother b. 1760), Anna Maria (ggggg-grandmother, b. 1762), Catherine Margaretha (gggggg-grandmother b. 1734), Maria Margaretha (ggggggg-grandmother b. 1674), ...several other women who are all Palatines with Anna or Margaretha as middle names.

My most interesting female ancestor's name is Herodias Long. Historically, she is a puritan, whipped for becoming a Quaker and the first women in Rhode Island to be granted a divorce. Very few women are named Herodias, and in fact, I would like to know if it ever happens. A fictionalized book based on Herodias' life pictured her sweet-but-distracted farmer father in England hearing the scripture read in church that Herodias was beautiful, but getting distracted on the bit about cutting off John the Baptist's head. Still, any knowledge of women given this name would be most appreciated.

[Ormond]

I am visiting relatives in Nashville and was only able to get online tonight to give this link to Tuesday's columnn:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110809/LIVING/708099974

Hope you all don't think the last line is too hokey. :)

[Angalin]

Girls' common middle names seem to be chosen primarily for sound, especially rhythm. They tend to either be single syllable names (Anne, Lynn, Lee, Jo, Rae, Mae, Fay, Jane, Jean, Kay, Lou, Rose, etc.) or two syllable names where the accent falls on the second syllable, often derived from French forms (Marie, Renee, Nicole, Louise, Suzanne, etc.).

Hmm. Mine is neither of those.

Ormond, can you explain why in the course of my job I have never interacted with a Judith that wasn't a massive pain in the ass? Judys are fine, but every time a woman calls in and introduces herself as Judith, I brace for the worst.

They`re going Biblical on you. Maybe you give off an Assyrian air? :P

I saddled my poor daughter with a four-syllable first and four-syllable middle name.

Out of curiosity, how many syllables in her surname?

eta: no, I think the last line is cute! :)

[Maltaran]

Just a minor point, but I don't think Toby really fits your list - it ends in the -y sound, but it's not really a short form of a more traditional name the way the others are.

[Hereward]

It's the short form of Tobias, surely.

[Maltaran]

I stand corrected - Tobias is such an old-fashioned name that I completely forgot about it.

[Ormond]

Here is a link to today's column:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110823/LIVING/708239978

Sorry for the initial error.