Countries Middle Names

[lyricaryl]

In the Philippines, our middle names are our mother's surname when they weren't married yet.

[MrDykstra]

Middle names only exist to make your mom yelling at you more intense

[dasmole]

Italians: "Which middle name are you talking about? There is 23"

[TheLazyTangerine]

My dumbass said "countries have middle names?"

[juniperflutegacha]

As a Chinese person I didn’t know what a middle name was until someone asked
“What’s your middle name?”

[oklord]

"Alright, who in this class is named, Carlos Carlos Carlos"

[abigailgriffin-wcfm]

Fun fact, one of the reasons middle names came into existence was because of folklore about full names. Many magical creatures in folklore could only control you if they had your full name and most people don't introduce themselves, even in formal settings with their middle name

[rhen_xx]

chinese, japanese, korean people: what is a middle name???

[tradetor]

According to our parents, our middle name is "failure" until we are 18, then it is changed to "where is grand kid"

[nennon]

In Egypt, our full-names in the official documents usually consists of four names: our first name, the father's, the grandfather's then our family's surname.

[tarnavskayana]

Strictly speaking, the Russian (and not only) thing with "father's name" is not a middle name but instead a patronym. It is basically an adjective that means "of X" - like Anton is the male name, Antonivna would be a female patronym in Ukraine, Antonovych - a male one, both basically mean daughter/son of Anton. The sequence of names is different too, family name comes first and given second, like in Japan, and the patronym is third, so it isn't a "middle name" even on technicality of being in the middle.
Dave Smith, a son of Alex would therefore be Smith Dave Alexovych in these languages.

[kimbernetikiberneti]

No one:
Portugal: "Uhh we just do every single name in the dictionary"

[FraizerFC]

I’m lowkey kinda confused, I thought your middle name will be your mother’s last name

[shrs_]

As an Indian, middle names are complicated here. Some people have them and some people don't.

Edit: I really hope more people don't actually reveal their names on this comment lol. The Internet is pretty unsafe.

[CutesyDaisy]

Japan cares about last names so much that they call everyone by last name except close family and friends-

[dessievi]

man i love Russian middle names
they're not simply putting the father's name
they add something like
ovich, it sounds so pretty

[ExtremelyFlat_Bread]

In Japanese, you go by your last name when meeting new people. But if they introduce themselves first and then give their first name, it's ok

[redribbon]

Me, someone without a middle name watching this: Why am I even here?

[zan]

In Japan, you say your family name or last name first because it's essentially the history of your bloodline. It tells them who you are and who you came from, which is a big deal there. You're born into a position, so for example in the older days if a samurai was your father you would follow his steps and be in a similar position. It wasn't a good system, but it worked and was developed because of the large amount of disasters that happened

[RubyRedbird]

Fun fact middle names became popular when people had to get jobs across the U.S. because a lot of people would run into each other with the same last name. Middle names differentiated John Smith 1, from John Smith 2, and John Smith 3 etc