Middle name

In several cultures, people's names usually include one or more names in addition to the portion that is usually considered adequate to identify them. In a number of cultures where a given name is expected to precede the surname, such a name is likely to be placed after the given name and before the surname, and thus called a middle name. In English-speaking American culture, that term is often applied (arguably mistakenly) to names, occupying that position, even if the bearer would insist that that name is being mistakenly called a "middle name", and is actually (to mention several types of atypical cases):

In the USA such names are specifically referred to as middle names; in most other countries, as far as they are given names and not, for example, patronymics, they would simply be regarded as second, third etc. given names. The US "middle name" is often abbreviated to the middle initial (e.g. Mary Lee Bianchi becomes Mary L. Bianchi, which is usually standard for signatures) or omitted entirely in everyday use (e.g. just Mary Bianchi). An individual may have more than one middle name, or none. In the United Kingdom, for comparison, she would usually be referred to as either Mary Bianchi, M. L. Bianchi or Mary Lee Bianchi, or she may choose Lee Bianchi, and informally there may be familiar shortenings.

It is debatable how long multiple given names have existed in English-speaking countries, but it is certain that among royalty and aristocracy the practice existed by the late 17th century (and possibly earlier), as exemplified in the name of the Stuart pretender James Francis Edward Stuart (1688–1766).

Despite their relatively long existence in North America, the phrase "middle name" was not recorded until 1835, in the periodical Harvardiana.

The use of multiple middle names has been somewhat impeded recently by the increased use of computer databases that occasionally allow for only a single middle name or more commonly a middle initial in storing personal records, effectively preventing people with multiple middle names from being listed in such databases under their full name. This is worsened by longer compound names, like María del Pilar Pereyra or María de las Nieves García.

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