The usage of middle name in different places

Some people in China have only one name (such as singer Wang Jie), so naturally there is no middle name. Traditionally, there are several types of middle names in East Asia. Among the middle names of China, Korea, Viet Nam and Ryukyu, there is a word "Dai", which has the function of distinguishing generations, and there is also a ranking word, which indicates the ranking order in the family. But most of them don't care about the meaning of middle names, forming single-word surnames+double-word names. In ancient times, surnames were divided. In addition, due to clan history, there may be compound surnames, that is, two-character surnames. Both Vietnam and Ryukyu have ten thousand characters, which are used to distinguish clans. Vietnam also has the word pad, which can distinguish between sexes. There are also some middle names with no special meaning in East Asian names, which are the first words of names.

East Asians in western countries

Many foreign Chinese take their Chinese name as the middle name of western names, and another English name as the first name, such as James Soong and Michelle Kwan. Middle names from Latin Chinese are usually composed of two phrases into one word, especially from Cantonese, such as Bruce Lee's middle name-Fan Jun. Among the new immigrants, some people use Chinese names as their first names, while others use English names as their middle names, such as Charlotte Week.

This phenomenon of having both English and Chinese names is also common in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan Province Province, but in some places (such as Hong Kong), people tend to put transliterated names after surnames, which is the last place of names. In this way, Bruce Lee Fan Jun Lee will become Bruce Lee Fan Jun. This practice conforms to the naming habits of the East and the West (the positional relationship between surnames and first names). Parents choose their children's first and middle names at the same time, and those frequently used names are often used as middle names. Due to traditional factors or to show respect, the first names given by relatives or other parents are often used as children's middle names. Other uses of middle names include giving children names that are inconvenient as names. For example, this name will become a social burden for children. Sometimes surnames are also used as middle names to show respect for relatives. Especially in South America, it is common to use the mother's maiden name as the middle name. A child's middle name is sometimes the first name or middle name of one parent. In America, it is common to give a baby boy the same name as his father. At this time, the middle name will be used to distinguish.

A woman named Mary is often called by her middle name (or Mary) because the name Mary is used by many people. In the southern United States, close people are sometimes called "first name+middle name", such as "Mary Anne" or "John Michael".

Middle names are generally not used in daily life. However, some people with more familiar middle names may abbreviate their first names into initials. (such as Scott Fitzgerald and Somerset Mao Mu). Some people don't use names at all (such as paul mccartney, whose name is James). In a few cases, a person's middle name may only contain one letter, which has no meaning. (For example, President Harry S. Truman of the United States) This custom is more common among Amish people, who usually use the initials of the mother's maiden name as their children's only middle name. So Sarah Miller's children will use their middle name [M]. The custom of abbreviating middle names into initials is rare in Britain.

Examples of middle names are: Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (as a queen, she doesn't need a surname), J.R.R Tolkien, George Bush, H.W. Bush and V.V.S. laxman. The British upper class traditionally likes to use multiple middle names, such as William Arthur Philip Louis, Prince of Wales, Henry Charles Albert David, Prince Henry, or Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, Princess Anne. In some extreme cases, British musician Brian Eno's full name is Brian peter george Saint Jean Le batiste de la salernitana, and Canadian actors donald sutherland and Shirley Douglas named their children Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland. Sometimes, the middle name can be the name of a historical celebrity. For example, the full name of baseball pitcher Cal McLish is Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish. Unlike English-speaking countries, in Spain and Latin America, the last word of a first name does not necessarily represent a surname. For example, for Juan Pedro Gomez Martinez, Juan Pedro is the first name, Gomez is the father's surname, and Martinez is the mother's surname. Argentina is an exception, because most Argentines are registered at birth and only use their fathers' surnames.

Many people have two names (such as Juan Pedro or Maria Claudia), but usually only one is used. It is not uncommon for a woman named Maria to use only a second name, because this name is so common. However, others usually use both the first and second names as a whole. For example, people named Jose Luis and Juan Carlos prefer this, rather than just being called Jose or Juan. On some informal occasions, people also use a word with two names as a nickname. For example, Marijose includes María José and Juanjo includes Juan José.

In these countries, people's names consist of their first names, their fathers' surnames (from their grandfathers' surnames) and their mothers' surnames (from their grandfathers' surnames). The father's surname is dominant, but people usually use two surnames at the same time to distinguish father and son. In the United States, it is difficult to tell a father from a son if they have the same name, such as Bush's sons. For example, the children of Juan Carlos Perez larios and Suzanne Estra Rios dominguez can be named Juan Carlos Perez Rios, and Perez is the "main" surname, but only when necessary. Such naming may bring trouble to English-speaking countries, especially in letters or official documents. Since people in English-speaking countries have only one surname, they take it for granted that the last word of a name is the surname, which leads to Gabriel García Márquez being written as Gabriel Marquez: a name that they can't distinguish. Legal documents written on the basis of passports or similar identification also have many such problems. Arabs in the Middle East (especially in the Levant) usually have two middle names: the father's name, and then the grandfather's name. In particular, some Arabs or Arab ancestors living in western countries will continue this practice.

Some Arabs (especially Syrians) are used to adding a special name before their names. However, this special name is not in the middle of the full name, but a prefix, but it has the same function as the middle name. This name is generally considered as a blessing, and it is often the name of Muhammad. For example, a person may be named Muhammad Hadi or Muhammad Barschel, but Hadi and Barschel are commonly quoted middle names. In Catholic-dominated societies (Belgian, French, Irish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish), men sometimes have a middle name that was originally a female name, especially Mary and Maria (famous examples of this are Erich Maria Remarque and rainer maria rilke). In France, the most common example is the use of compound names, such as Jean-Marie or Lessandré-Marie; ; Or even rarer, Mary is used as a third or later name. Similarly, women usually contain compound names, such as Marie-Pierre or Marie-George.

In Brazil, the middle name is usually mother's maiden name.

On the contrary, Hispanic women sometimes use the male name José as their middle name, which is very common in Catholic families. So María José is an ordinary female name, while José María is an ordinary male name, such as José María Olazábal, a golfer who participated in the PGA Tour.

The use of middle names in these societies is mainly due to cultural factors rather than religious factors. There is no doctrine requiring the use of middle names.

In many English-speaking countries, it is customary to give people baptized by the Roman church a "baptism name", sometimes as a second middle name. Such a middle name has no legal significance unless the baptized person determines his name by legal means. In Denmark and Norway, the word middle name is often used to refer to surnames that are not used as surnames. For example, a person can use his mother's maiden name or the surname of other close relatives (such as grandparents) as his middle name. Although it is true that there can be several middle names, this is rare. On the other hand, in the case of multiple names, these names cannot be formally used as middle names, but are all common names (although-especially in Norway-"mellmnavn" also refers to common names after the first name in daily spoken language).

Take Carl Vigo Muncie Langer as an example. Carl and Vigo are first names, Muncie is a middle name, and Lange is a surname. Unless you use your full name, the correct name is Lange, such as Mr Lange, not Mr Muncie Lange.

A similar situation exists in Sweden. In everyday language, names other than first names are used as middle names, but the Swedish authorities do not follow this rule when dealing with names. Because some people are "known by their Chinese names", when registering in Sweden, people are always required to fill in all the names with high accuracy and indicate which one is the title name ("tilltalsnamn"). Sometimes people can also use their middle names as their daily surnames. For example, in the name "Per Gottfrid Svartholm Vogel", both "Per" and "gottfried" are given names, but only "gottfried" is the address name, not "Per". In addition, "svartholm" is a middle name and "Warg" is a surname, but in practice, "Svartholm" acts as a surname. Since Swedish speakers rarely address each other with "Mr./Ms.", it is less important to address others with "Mr. Svartholm Warg", "Mr. Svarholm" or "Mr. Warg" nowadays.

In Finland, citizens can have three names, the first is the name when they are registered at birth. After marriage, the old surname may be used as the middle name, and the surnames will be connected by quotation marks. In the Philippines, the middle name only refers to the mother's maiden name. For example, for a man named juan miguel batum Bacar de la Cruz, "batum Bacar" is his mother's maiden name and his middle name. At the same time, the word "middle name" is rarely used to refer to the names of other parts.

Middle names are not common in Thailand. Thais usually give their children a long and meaningful name. In addition, many Thai children also have a nickname of one or two syllables. Thais usually call them nicknames; For public figures (such as politicians and actors), they are usually called names. Their surnames are seldom used in daily life. Rajput people use Singh (lion) or even Kumar (child) as their middle names.

Sikh men, for religious reasons, should take Singh as their surname, but sometimes they take Singh as their middle name, such as Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, or better, Monty Panesar. Sikh women, for similar reasons, usually take Kaur as their surname, but will use it as their middle name; An obvious example is Paminder Kaul nagra.

In South India, the initials are surnames that are often assigned to each specific family member, and usually do not include surnames. It consists of every member of the paternal family. For example, Yeduguri Sanditirajasekhara Reddy can be decomposed into Yeduguri, (surname); Santingti, (the name of this family); Rajasekhara (first name) and Reddy (middle name).

In the Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra

In the United States and Maharashtra, Gujarat, India, the middle name is the father's or husband's name, but some people, such as Sanjeri Labansari, use the mother's surname as the middle name.

In Pakistan, some tribes have the same name as Khan, followed by their tribal names. For example, Hu Sarkhan, Kartak, Zafarullah Khan Jamali and feroz khan at noon. In the cultures of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, personal names do not contain middle names. Their names consist of three parts: first name, father name (ru:отчество) and surname. The most formal way to address a person is his first name and his father's first name, not his last name. Whether in the Russian Empire (for example, Adam Johann von Crewdson Stein was called Ivan Fedorovich Crewdson Stein in Russia) or in the Soviet Union (although there were exceptions), this title strengthened the concept of human descent. However, because the initials are often omitted (such as Vladimir V. Putin), they are sometimes confused or regarded as middle names.

According to custom, any name can match any parent name. It is also allowed and common for a son's name to be followed by his father's name, such as Sergei sergeyevich Ivanov. Although there is no regulation, unwritten custom requires that children should not be given names similar to their surnames, so it is a bit strange that Sergei Ivanovich sergeyev is not a common name (given names are similar to surnames, and father names and surnames are rare).

Illegitimate birth, adoption, and separation from father sometimes lead to unconventional father names. If unmarried mothers do not indicate the father's name on the child's birth certificate, they will be asked to provide or take a male surname as the legal father's name at will. Legally adopted children sometimes need to formally change their original father's name, or occasionally use illegal father's name in informal situations, or use it alternately with legal father's name. Adults can legally change their father's name while keeping their first and last names, which is usually used to show respect for their stepfather or alienate their biological father who is not conscientious or disliked. There are other reasons, such as the original father's name sounds strange; In order to avoid discrimination when establishing contact with a certain race or culture, individuals remove their obvious characteristics from their names; Cut off contact with cultures that you don't belong to. For convenience, the father name of a foreign language can also be localized, whether it is legal or informal (for example, Andrewvich becomes Andreyevich, or Andriy Yivich becomes Andreyevich).