Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi brain Stuff, Lauren fog Obam here with another classic episode for you today. Today's question is what's in a name? A middle name? To be precise, Hey, brain Stuff, Luren fog Obam here. Few things perplexed expectant parents more than picking just the right name for their child. And the middle name is no exception. It must have both gravitas and joy to vieve and set the tone for a lifetime of repetition on official forms. But what's in a
middle name? Anyway? In ancient Rome, people often had five names. The first three were like today's modern surname, middle name, and last name. The last two names usually revealed the person's place or clan of origin. The modern tradition of inserting a middle name or two into a child's moniker most likely began in the Middle Ages, when parents gave babies a personalized first name and a saints name for
middle name, followed by a surname. By the mid eighteen hundreds, this European habit had entered the United States, brought along by immigrants, and began to take on new significance. Middle Names inspired by saints were sometimes replaced by non religious middle names, such as a maternal maiden name. By the time the Civil War began in eighteen sixty one, middle names were given purely at the parents discretion. Any name of their liking was fair game, and were often aspirational
in nature, with two or three middle names given. After all, a hypothetical name of Peter Aurelius Oliver Smith carries a little bit more weight than plain old Pete Smith, doesn't it. The idea of a middle name took hold in the United States, and by the start of World War Two in nineteen fourteen, official in sprint forms became the first
government documents to request applicants middle names. Middle names were so much the norm that when computers became routinely used for US citizenship documents, they were programmed to recognize three names, not two or four, only three. If a middle name wasn't entered, the program would automatically insert n m I, which was a military abbreviation for no middle initial. Today's episode was originally produced by Tristan McNeil and is based
on the article why do we have middle Names? On how Stuff Works dot Com written by Laurie L. D. Brain Stuff is production of I heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clay. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever you listen to your favorite shows.