By Nila Harris
My dad’s best friend, Frank Ammerman and his son Wade, have always called me by my middle name. I can’t remember them ever calling me “Nila”; it’s always been “Faye”.
The trend caught on with John Peoples and his son Jonathan who always call me “Nila Faye” (since Frank worked with them both).
In my husband’s family, middle names are often added to the first names: we have Teresa Kay, Paula Jean and Daryle Wayne as the most frequently used pairs.
Did you know that there is a holiday to celebrate middle names?
It falls on the first Friday of the first full week in March every year — a day set aside to celebrate the part of your name that is often represented with just its initial letter.
Although middle names first appeared in European royalty in the late 13th century, it wasn’t until the turn of the 19th century that middle names became commonplace in the United States.
“By 1900, nearly every child born had a middle name,” nps.gov states. Prior to that, “only about five percent of the Americans born during the Revolutionary War era had middle names.”
The trend began as it had in England, with the upper class, then trickling down to the middle class.
Now in present day, nearly everyone has a middle name — sometimes two.
In my first-grade class of 2002-03, I had FIVE students who had two middle names. It must have been the “in-thing” in 1996 when those kiddos were born.
What is the significance of your middle name?
Mine comes from my Aunt Faye Waddle. My daughter’s is after her aunt. One son’s middle name comes from a great-grandfather; the other comes from a grandfather.
It’s kind of neat being reminded of loved ones who have passed by hearing the middle names mentioned.
Unfortunately, middle names have gotten a bad rap. Many a youngster has cringed when mom or dad has used first and middle names together, usually in a loud threatening voice:
NILA FAYE!!!! Yikes!
Celebrate National Middle Name on March 8 by using your middle name for the day.
It might throw people off, especially if you use it in school — the poor teacher might not have a clue who your schoolwork belongs to.