middle name

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First recorded from Harvardiana in 1835.

middle name (plural middle names)

1. A name between the first given name and the family name or surname; a second or subsequent given name.

   I go by David but it's my middle name; my full name is William David Mason.

   María is a common middle name in Spanish, as in José María García.

2. (figuratively) A trait, activity, or action closely associated with or aptly describing a person.

   Think twice about playing for cash because "Poker" is her middle name.

   I won't tell anyone. "Discretion" is my middle name.

Historically in the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines, the Spanish naming customs traditionally displayed the full name as:

first name +‎ second name +‎ father's surname +‎ Spanish y (“and”) +‎ mother's surname

During the US colonial era of the Philippines, the US naming custom took effect where the mother's maiden name is used as a middle +‎ name, which displayed the full name as:

first name +‎ second name +‎ middle name (“mother's surname before marriage”) +‎ last name (“father's surname”)

middle name (plural middle names)

1. (Philippines) one's mother's maiden name

   Juan Rico Martinez dela Cruz III is my full name, where Martinez is my middle name, but people just call me "JR".

   Maria Clara Teresita Reyes dela Cruz is my full name, where Reyes is my middle name, but you can call me Tessie or Tess.

• In the Philippines, this is often abbreviated known as a middle initial and only used in reference to one's complete legal full name, since people normally use a shortform full name composing only at least one of their primary given names (usually their first name) together with their last name (father's surname).

  My full name is Ma. Clara Teresita R. dela Cruz, but I usually just write Tess dela Cruz.

• personal name
• first name
• last name
• danger is one's middle name
• is my middle name
• NMN