Can you have 3 surnames?

… have “triple-barrelled” surnames (sometimes created when one spouse has a double-barrelled name and the other has a single surname). Such names are almost always abbreviated in everyday use to a single or double-barrelled version. There are even a few “quadruple-barrelled” surnames …

What’s the point of middle names?

Today, as Wilson notes, middle names serve much the same purposes they always have: they’re a way to keep family names going and thus preserve relationships; they’re a way to try something new or “put old names out to grass” without cutting the cord entirely.

How many names should a person have?

Birth Certificate Naming Rules Many states require at least two names on a birth certificate —a family name and a given name chosen by a parent.

Why do some people have two last names?

A double name can be formed when marrying or getting children, combining the surnames of the spouses or the parents, respectively. Double names can be combined by taking one part of each. Either spouse or both can take a double name.

What cultures dont have middle names?

Japan, Korea and China have no custom of giving middle names (with the possible exception of tiny enclaves in China). If you then add the folks in SE Asia and the subcontinent who don’t give middle names, you’re closer to 1/3 of the world than 1/4.

Why do we have so many different names?

This tradition of multiple names spread over to Western cultures in the 1700s. Aristocrats would give their children long names to show their high place in society. Spanish and Arabic cultures would give their children paternal or maternal names from previous generations to be able to keep track of the child’s family tree.

Can a person have two last names?

That depends on the names. So, for example, a person can have 2 First names like Mary Sue or Jim Bob, two middle names like many British people do, or two last names like Shiloh Jolie Pitt. In English language names, the surname would be last, the personal name first, and the rest would be middles names.

Why do so many people have two middle names?

But with families having fewer children in general, the temptation to bestow two middle names — to honor several parents, for example — is strong. Multiple middle names are far more common in Europe, where the German tradition of multiple names was carried to Britain by members of the royal family, who were of German descent.

How did the tradition of second names come about?

They eventually settled on naming their children with the given name first, baptismal name second, and surname third. The tradition was spread to America as people started to immigrate overseas. As time went on people started to stray away from religious middle names and get creative with the second name of their child.