I was wondering about middle names in the middle ages

Question

I ran into a name that had a middle name. Now, did no one have middle names in the middle ages?  I found this bit of info on it, which leads me to believe that some did.  According to a Government article on the names in state parks, only nobility had middle names and it was illegal for others to have one I also found the info in an Ancestry.com blog.

Answer 1

I can't say no one, but very few had middle names. If you see a profile with a middle name in the Middle Ages, it's probably a mistake.

In Wales or the West Midlands, people might be called John ap Morgan ap Thomas or John Morgan Thomas. It looks like a middle name but it's a patronymic. Also, in Medieval records, you might see some called Thomas Carter Smith, which is actually Thomas Carter, smith. In England, anyway, middle names didn't become usual until the 18th or 19th century.

Answer 2

Depends on the culture. I can say pretty confidently that middle names were uncommon among English-speakers before 1800, rare before 1750, and almost unheard-of prior to 1700. The number of genuine examples I've encountered of people born in an English cultural context in the 17th century who had middle names they were given at birth is fewer than 20; most of those are women who were named after Charles I's queen consort, Henrietta Maria of France. The rise in frequency in middle names among American colonists in the 18th and early 19th century seems to have been the result of the influence of Palatine German culture on the naming practices of American colonists (most Germans had at least two given names).

Comments

Thank you. I'm trying to get all the other genealogy sites that I belong to up with the correct information. I just was not sure how to deal with names that come up with a middle name.

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Most commonly, when you see a middle name for someone born before, say, 1750 or so (NB: in a specifically English-speaking cultural context), it's because someone has conflated two different people with the same surname into a single individual.