15 April 2015

Middle Names

**My theme for this year’s A to Z Challenge is THE NAME GAME. Everything you’d want to know about naming characters.**

Most of these posts have been about first names, and yesterday I talked about giving your characters last names. Now there’s just one portion of a person’s full name that’s left: the middle name! Like the last name, the middle name isn’t always necessary to have for your fictional characters. It isn’t usually something that will pop up very often within the story. But it does help you form a stronger identity for your characters.

Middle names aren’t all that likely to show up within a story. Like real life, they’ll probably be used mostly when you’re in trouble with your parents. When you hear your full name, you know things are serious. Whatever reason you have for using a character’s middle name will vary from story to story. A character’s middle name can mean nothing, or it can be very significant, whether it’s through symbolism or just family backstory.


If you don’t end up actually using the middle name, choosing one can still be fun. Your character will feel more real to you because you know his entire name. So how do you choose one? A middle name can be something traditional within a family. The middle name Elizabeth has been passed down from my mother to my sister to my niece. I got my paternal grandmother’s middle name. Another common tradition is using the mother’s maiden name as a middle name. Or you can just choose whatever middle name you’d like. It can be as random or as significant as you’d like it to be.

You’ll want to think about how the whole name flows together—first, middle, and last. Choose something that sounds good and feels right to you for this character. There are plenty of possibilities when choosing your character’s middle name. Some people have more than one middle name. Historically, having a very long name shows a higher rank in society. Some people choose to go by their middle name rather than their first. Maybe your character hates his first name or is named after a family member he wants to forget. Middle names don’t have to be useless for a character. They can hold some significance as well.

WHAT I’VE DONE: I’ve only given four of my characters middle names, but for some reason, Jordan’s was the hardest to come up with (he couldn’t just tell me because he wanted to be a jerk, apparently. *snort* Muses…). For a while I knew I wanted it to start with an M and eventually settled on Mason, and created a whole backstory for it as well. Mason was his grandfather’s name and would have been his, too, if his grandmother had her way. Since his mother hates her parents, she never uses his middle name. I can picture her starting to yell at him, screaming, “Jordan M—” then getting thrown off and forgetting what he had done to get in trouble in the first place.

Do you give your characters middle names? Where did your middle name come from? 

18 comments:

  1. I have not given any of my characters middle names. Not sure why.

    Stephen Tremp
    A to Z Cohost
    M is for Movies

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  2. I usually pick middle names (at least for my main characters), but they rarely transfer over to the actual story.

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  3. I've only given two characters out of all of my characters middle names and it was because I first thought of those characters when I was twelve, so of course when I was little I thought they needed middle names. :)

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  4. It's rare that I give a character a middle name, but I have when a mom wanted to yell at her kid with all three names. My middle name, Ann, is the most common and I guess I got it because my older sister has the same middle name too.

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  5. None of mine have had middle names. Yes, be sure it all sounds good together.

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  6. I love how you used the backstory with his mother and his mother's parents to add tension to his middle name - that's so cool!
    I don't think any of my characters have had middle names . . . oy.

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  7. They same syllabic rhythm should be considered with names. For example, one syllable first names should have a multi-syllable second name. Or vice-versa. When I say names out loud, it does make sense.

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  8. Not going to lie, I'm quite fond of my middle name. :)

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  9. I've never given any of my characters middle names. I know lots of people get middle names that are for some ancestor. I did that with my daughter but none of my other children.

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  10. Middle names are a tradition in my family especially for referring to an ancestor, including a mother's maiden name. My husband has no middle name and I insisted my daughters did, however, I've not thought to put one in a book, yet.

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  11. I haven't given any of my characters middle names. Not even JJ in Out of Secrets. You'd think Jackson would be his middle name, but I paid a little tribute to one of my best friends. She has no middle name and it's Saralee.

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  12. Haven't tackled middle names yet. But I can see where they could be used for quick characterization.

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  13. I never thought to give my characters middle names. But I like quite unusual middle names that have a story. It's just something else to add in.

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  14. I've never given middle names either. I agree they are only used when kids are in trouble.

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  15. I had to laugh at your description of Jordan's mom getting mad at him and yelling! That exact scenario is the only reason I've ever given my characters middle names: so their mothers can yell at them! LOL

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  16. Yeah, so that quote sounds familiar. LOL No, really. We have four kiddos and used middle names to ground them in our family or our faith.

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  17. Some people even use middle names instead of their first name. I work with two Scotts, both of which aren't their first names. lol

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  18. Huh.
    I don't think I've ever used a middle name.
    Huh.

    Heather

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