Middle name

Many people's names include one or more middle names, placed between the first given name and the last name. In the West, a middle name is effectively a second given name. A middle name is usually substituted by the middle initial, as evidenced George W. Bush and John F. Kennedy. Also social security cards and most state driver license only have the middle initial for better organization purposes.

East and Southeast Asian

Sometimes the first syllables of Chinese and Korean given names are considered middle names, because they are positioned in the middle of a name (if the person has a two-syllable name), like Wong Shan-leung, where Shan is the "middle". This is technically incorrect, since many Chinese have only one syllable in their given name, so there is no middle position in their full name. Another possible cause for this misconception is due to the fact that each syllable is an individual word/character. (See Chinese name, Korean name, Japanese name, Vietnamese name)

Related Topics:
Chinese - Korea - Given name - Chinese name - Korean name - Japanese name - Vietnamese name

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Many Asian immigrants and Taiwanese personalities anglicize their given name and convert it to an authentic middle name, after a native English first name, such as James Chu-yu Soong and Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang (the second syllable of the middle name is officially not capitalized, even in overseas Chinese names). If the Chinese given name has two syllables, it is usually combined into "one" middle names for better organizational purposes, especially Cantonese ones, such as Bruce Junfan Lee. There are also a minority whose Chinese given names are their first names, and have English middle names.

Related Topics:
Taiwan - Given name - James Chu-yu Soong - Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang - Overseas Chinese - Cantonese

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Vietnamese traditionally have middle names (chữ dem or chữ lót) that distinguish between the sexes. Many women still have the rather feudal Thị (meaning "woman of-" the given family) as their middle names. Although the Communist government in Vietnam has discouraged this name, it still continues to be popular among Southerners and rural Northerners. There are traditionally more male middle names, such as Văn ("scholar"), Hữu, Duc, Đình, Xuân ("Spring"), Ngoc ("Jade"), Quang ("Light"), and Cong. The Nguyen royalties' middle names are from a generation poem. Vietnamese middle names used to not often used, especially among males. In a 1988 study, 22% of Vietnamese males have no middle names. However, many younger males in Vietnam prefer being called with bisyllabic names nowadays.

Related Topics:
Vietnam - Nguyen - Generation poem

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In Philippines, the mother's family name in her maiden name is used as the middle name of a legitimate child.

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