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It's also common in some cultures for infants to be named in honor of ancestors (typically grandparents) or as part of a multi-generational naming tradition. This can result in embarrassment as names slip into our out of fashion over the years; if "Gertrude" or "Ethel" were popular in the Klondike Gold Rush era but rare today, the implicit presumption is that anyone who still has the names is elderly. Some names become strongly associated with a certain gender over time (e.g., Meredith, Hilary, Ashley). May also lead to a [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?]].
Occasionally, some part of the name will match the child's future occupation (Bill the accountant, Mr. Carr the mechanic, Ms. Taylor the sewing machine vendor...) just by happenstance, inadvertently coining a [[Meaningful Name]]. Sometimes, the choice of names correlates not only with race, ethnicity or the era in which they were assigned, but to the parents' economic status or education levels. Freakonomics [https://web.archive.org/web/20190913221542/http://freakonomics.com/podcast/marijuana-pepsi/ analysed this to death]. Certainly it is possible to succeed despite a name like "Marijuana Pepsi, PhD." but did you have to [[Johnny Cash|name your boy "Sue"]]?
{{examples}}
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* In ''[[Meet the Parents]]'', Pam's middle name is Martha, which was fine until she got engaged to Gaylord Focker.
* In [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[North by Northwest]]'', Roger Thornhill's middle initial is O, making his initials R.O.T. Doesn't stop him from having his matchbooks monogrammed, though.
=== Literature ===
* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[
** The same novel had a passing reference to a former ruler of Lancre called King My God He's Heavy the First, and a man called James What The Hell's That Cow Doing In Here Poorchick (or Moocow Poorchick to his friends). The culture has a rule that whatever is actually said at the christening must become their permanent, official name, with no allowance for error or provision to change it.
** There's also One Man Bucket, or to give him his full name, One Man Throwing A Bucket Of Water Over Two Dogs. His tribe names children after the first thing the mother sees when she looks out of the tent after the birth. Apparently his twin, born a few minutes earlier 'would have given his right arm to have been called Two Dogs ''Fighting''' (an oblique reference to an ancient and very non-PC American joke.)
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* Discussed in ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', where Merrin meredith takes on a pseudonym because he's embarassed of the "Meredith" part in his name.
▲=== Live Action TV ===
* On ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'', Ritchie's middle name is revealed to be, for convoluted reasons, Rosebud.
** {{spoiler|Technically it was R.O.S.E.B.U.D. for Robert Oscar Sam Edward Benjamin Ulysses David}}
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* On ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Xander's middle name is Lavelle. As if he wasn't the Buttmonkey without that.
* Sean Garrity's middle name on ''[[Rescue Me]]'' is Leslie.
* On ''[[Grey's
** And her first name is really ''Calliope''. At least her parents were consistent in their love for classic, mythological Greek names.
* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'''s Dr. Forrester's full name was Clayton ''Deborah Susan'' Forrester. Of course, his mother [[Why Couldn't You Be Different?|had really wanted him to be a girl...]]
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** A medium supposedly channelling Boycie's father reveals his middle name to be Aubrey.
* On ''[[8 Simple Rules]]'', Cate's middle initial of S was revealed by her father not to stand for "Stacey," but "Stinky."
* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series
** Though in the second pilot, Kirk's middle initial is given as 'R'. One might speculate that his birthname is ''so'' embarrassing that he changed it ''to'' "Tiberius". The "Tiberius" enters the [[Canon]] from [[Star Trek: The Animated Series|the animated series]]. This actually started as a joke during the Q & A at a convention. (Dammit, Jim, I was THERE.) When asked "What does the T stand for?" [[Majel Barrett]] wisecracked "Tiberius"; and when we all groaned, retorted "Would you prefer Theobald?"
* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
** In a weird related [[Real Life]] semi-example, [[Russell T. Davies|Russell Davies]] didn't have a middle name, but he decided to take an middle initial as to avoid being confused for another [[One Steve Limit|Russell Davies in television.]] It was only after he started becoming established that people kept going "Oh! Like James T Kirk!" ''Then'' he became embarrassed.
** In ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'', J.T. Yorke's name is James Tiberius Yorke.
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* Ted Eveline Mosby on ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]''.
** And Robin Charles Scherbatsky
** And
*** Hey, that one's not embarrassing- IT'S AWESOME!
* In ''[[Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads]]?'', Terry goes to church in order to eavesdrop on his best friend Bob's embarrassing middle name, which he'd been trying to learn since he was a child. The middle name turns out to be Scarborough, after where he was conceived.
* Polly from ''[[Major Dad]]'', whose middle name turned out to be Esther. (Fine by itself, but "Polly Esther"...)
* Emma Winifred Keane from ''[[The Bill]]''.
* Albert Ladysmith Steptoe of ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'' is a bit of a subversion on the grounds that it isn't the most embarrassing bit of data - or lack thereof - on his birth certificate... "Father ['s details]: I don't believe it... UNKNOWN! My father's a bast...!"
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* In ''[[Happy Days]]'', the Fonz's full name is Arthur ''Herbert'' Fonzarelli. If ''Potsie'' sniggers at your middle name, it must be pretty bad.
* On ''[[Fringe]]'', Lincoln Lee's middle name is Tyrone (in honor of his grandfather), and he hides it from Olivia. Olivia finds it out by asking Lincoln's [[Alternate Universe]] counterpart, who doesn't think it's a big deal.
=== Newspaper Comics ===
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* Dawn of ''[[Dawn of Time]]'' finds Gideon's middle name (Algernon) hilarious... even though she doesn't speak his language (and it's debatable if she understands it).
* ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'' gives us Thomas Humperdinck Sharpley ("Thump" to his friends).
* ''[[Something*Positive]]'''s Davan: [
* Played with in ''[[Questionable Content]]'': When Mrs Reed gives Marten a [[Full Name Ultimatum]], she calls him "[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1835 MARTEN TIBERIUS REED]!" However, Tiberius isn't ''really'' his middle name ("It WOULD be, if his father weren't such a ''stick-in-the-mud''!")
** While ''he'' thinks it's an embarrassing name (and clearly so did his dad), his mom and friends all think it's [[Awesome McCoolname]].
* ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'' brings us paranormal investigator Hanna Falk Cross. Oddly, he doesn't seem to realize [[Gender Blender Name|how embarrassing]] [[Embarrassing First Name|his]] ''[[Embarrassing First Name|first]]'' [[Embarrassing First Name|name]] is.
* In ''[[Kagerou]]'', Red's full name is {{spoiler|James Valentine Beethovan}}. Not exactly the kind of middle name most people would want, especially not Red.
=== Web Original ===
* Referenced on ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' in [
* In the [[Whateley Universe]] stories, heroine Chaka (Toni Chandler) does the 'my middle name is danger' schtick and then admits that her middle name is Marc. {{spoiler|She used to be a boy named Anthony Marc Chandler.}}
* In the [[League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions]] Sailor Evil's full name is Griselda Ethylene Evil & she didn't want to be known as Sailor Ethylene as it made her sound like an unleaded gasoline.
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** Thanks to being named by a real-world contest winner, his infant sister has a worse name - Cleopatra ''Dirtbike'' Funnie.
* [[Tiny Toon Adventures|Barbara Ann Bunny]].
* In ''[[Ben 10:
** Ben's middle name is [[Jack Kirby|Kirby]]. He just thinks it's kind of dumb-sounding.
* In ''[[The Replacements]]'', superspy Agent K's middle name is Mildred.
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* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Beezy's [[Mysterious Middle Initial]] is eventually revealed to stand for Jo-Jo.
* In ''[[Static Shock]]'', Virgil's middle name is [[Theme Naming|Ovid]]. He provides one of the page quotes.
* Cranky Doodle Donkey from the ''[[My Little Pony:
** This is
=== Other Media ===▼
▲=== Other ===
* There's a popular bit of ''[[Les Misérables]]'' [[Fanon]] that insists that Inspector Javert's full name is "Shnookums Q. Javert".
* British comedian Alexei Sayle had a joke that his name in full is Alexei Lenin Molotov Sputnik Grain Harvest Glorious Five Year Plan Sayle. It's not, but his parents really were?
* According to a contest circa 1998, the middle name of ''[[Cracked]]'' magazine's mascot Sylvester P. Smythe was "Phooey."
* Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
=== Real Life ===
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* Richard Tiffany Gere.
** The name "Tiffany" has a weird history. It started off as a Greek girl's first name (Theophania), then became a saint's name in about 300 AD, then entered English through French, then became a surname (probably of those who revered the saint in question), then became a brand name of lamp. Only in the 1970s did it become a girl's name again.
* [[Harry S. Truman]]'s middle name-was "S"! But before you assume his parents were really dull people, they just wanted to keep both sets of grandparents happy, and the "S" fit both of them. (The names of his grandfathers were "Solomon" and "Shippe", respectively. Shippe? I guess things could've really been worse.)
** Giving a child just a middle initial like that to make more than one relative happy used to be fairly common.
* [[Ulysses S. Grant|Ulysses S(impson) Grant]] was really named Hiram Ulysses Grant (note the initials). West Point got it wrong, accidentally mixing in his mother's maiden name, and he kept it, partially because it made him "[[Meaningful Name|US Grant]]".
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** There is the same thing in Brazil. It should be noted this isn't a 'middle name'. It is a composed first name (same in Spanish, I believe).
*** The pattern is to hyphenate both parents' first names (so Jean-Marie is a boy, his dad is John, his mum is Mary). Not particularly rare in French.
* In
* Not exactly
** Fairly embarrassing, Jimmy Riddle is cockney rhyming slang for 'piddle', otherwise known as piss.
*** More of a [[Meaningful Name]], considering [[Never Found the Body|what happened to him...]]
* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|John Ronald
* Count Jefferson-Friedrich Volker Benjamin Graf von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth. Very very long name and quite fun to say. By the way, if you were wondering, he's the son of Count Friedrich-August Rüdiger Albrecht von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth and is married to member of the Danish Royal Court Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg; thus he is a member of the Danish Royal Family.
* [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]. The C.S. stands for [[Embarrassing First Name|Clive]] ''Staples''. No wonder he went by Jack...
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*** Besides, she wouldn't have had to change her last name, or she could have gone with a hyphen.
**** It's a shout out to Jerry Hall being engaged to Bryan Ferry in the 80s. She didn't go through with it either.
=== Literature ===
* Again in [[P. G.
* [[Hating Alison Ashley]] has the mother marring into the 'Grub' family.
▲=== Live Action TV ===
* ''[[Married... with Children]]'' had next door neighbor Marcy (post-divorce) get married to Jefferson D'Arcy in an impulsive fit. She spent an episode lamenting the fact that she was now "Marcy D'Arcy."
* ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'': "Dude. She's Callie O'Malley."
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=== Radio ===
* The "New Zealand" episode of British radio series ''[[Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off]]'' features Giles realising his friend is about to marry into the name Arabella Fonte, as in [[wikipedia:Banana Boat Song|"daylight come and me wanna go home"]].
=== [[Truth in Television]] ===▼
* The British politician Linda Chalker chose to use her maiden name, rather than her married name. This wasn't so much from any kind of feminist convictions as from the fact that her married name was the rather Tolkienesque Linda Landa.▼
=== Video Games ===
* Gruntilda Winkybunion from ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' is an (apparently) unusual case of an embarrassing, unmarried last name.
▲=== Webcomics ===
* In ''[[Questionable Content]]'', Raven is an inversion and a subversion. Her first name is Blodwyn (her parents are Welsh), [[Embarrassing First Name|which she avoids like the plague]], so she uses her middle name instead. The subversion comes into play since she was originally introduced as an emo goth (before she became a [[Perky Goth]]), and Faye makes fun of her for naming herself after "a disease-carrying avian," unaware it is one of her birth names.
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*** The Disco Stu Marriage was ''annulled'' – therefore no effective marriage took place.
* An aversion in ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. One would think that Charlene ''Doofenshmirtz'' would consider her married name embarrassing, but she fully embraces it, going so far as to keep the name even after getting a divorce.
▲=== [[Truth in Television]] ===
▲* The British politician Linda Chalker chose to use her maiden name, rather than her married name. This wasn't so much from any kind of feminist convictions as from the fact that her married name was the rather Tolkienesque Linda Landa.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Naming Conventions]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Index of Shame]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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