Rebirth of Middle Names
Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, my middle name was irrelevant, except when filling out forms. People I knew would never have known it, would never have needed it, would never have had a reason to remember it. A middle name was sometimes a compromise between parents — one name would be the first and another would be the middle, and the child could later decide which he/she wanted to be known by. Sometimes the middle name echoed a maiden name or was in remembrance of a relative or perpetuating a legacy (Jr., III, IV). But for day-to-day life, the middle name was superfluous. When addressing friends, we used first names, nicknames, and sometimes last names. Those who insisted on using their middle name as well were considered pretentious.
But now, thanks to the Internet, we can readily communicate with billions of people, many of whom have the same first and last names. And when you sign up for an email service like gmail, the chances are great that your first name is already taken, as is your last name, as is your first name plus last name. So many people make their middle name part of their email address, and hence they and all those with whom they communicate are reminded of that middle name over and over again.
In other words, for many of us, our middle name, together with the associations that led to its choice, has become an integral part of our identity.
