Do I Have a Middle Name?
- Just Joe
Joe, your question is a deep and mysterious one. The Jr. after your name implies that you are your father's exact namesake, and he had a middle name. Thus you must have a middle name. Yet your birth certificate bears no middle name, so you must not have a middle name. It's a veritable koan, the baby-naming equivalent of "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
Do you have a middle name? I've meditated at length on this naming paradox, and I have made peace with an answer. The answer is:
Nope.
Sorry about that. In the faceoff between Junior rules, which are a matter of tradition, and birth certificates, which are a matter of law, the legal papers win. You have no middle name.
That said, it does feel like a cheat. As a Junior, you're entitled to your father's whole name. Middle names can be especially important to Juniors, as a source of nicknames to distinguish them from Seniors. If you're feeling the lack, you're in a unique position to apply for a legal name change with few practical hassles. That would also set you up to pass on your full, complete family name to a Joe Smith III.
Comments
I agree with the Namecandy lady that you do not have a middle name. Your legal name is "Joe Smith, Jr.", because that is what's on your birth certificate. If Peter doesn't appear on your birth certificate, it is not part of your name. Your parents should have noticed that when you were an infant and had the certificate reissued with the correct name.
While legally, Joe might not have a middle name, there's nothing really stopping him from using a middle name. My grandmother was born Mary Evelyn Lastname but was always called Polly, all her documents, even her marriage certificate lists her name as Polly. Later in life she used the name Polly MaidenName Lastname and that's how she's buried.
On some official forms, someone might have to put their official legal name, ie W9 for work or your taxes. In other circumstances, people can use the name they want. A lot of people don't use their formal names much at all, they use a nickname. I had a roommate who was Chinese but used an American nickname, her name on the lease on our apartment was Jenny Chang, which wasn't her formal name at all.
The changes that were allowed "back in the day" are no longer allowed. Since everything in the system is now computerized and linked, the above example of Grandma Polly wouldn't happen anymore. Basically, your driver's license and the name on your SS card are as official as they get and BOTH of those go directly off your birth certificate. In these days of rampant identity theft it's an attempt to prevent the ease of that (though, obviously, it doesn't eliminate that problem entirely.)
The reverse happened in my family- my father had always thought his name was "Joseph Michael Smith II" after his father. When he was finishing medical school and contemplating how to affix MD after the II, it came to light that my grandfather was actually named "Joseph Michael Robert Smith" with a second middle name no one ever knew about! Since he was no longer technically a junior, my dad just dropped that and added the MD and all was good!
My grandfather was David Stone Jr. I always thought his father was a Sr. Turns out the father is not a Sr and unlike his son, has a middle name. Back in the early 1900's, they were very liberal with the Junior part of the name. Perhaps this Joe has the same situation that my grandfather had. He was a Jr on every legal paper but he did not share his father's middle name. As a matter of fact David Jr did not have a middle name at all.
Keep mind mind, with many Jrs, they're only Jr when their father is alive. I know people do it differently now, but traditionally if there was John Sr, John Jr and John III, then after John Sr's death, John Jr became John Sr and John III was now John Jr.
My husband's birth certificate lists his middle name as the initial "C.", which he's always known to stand for Charles. Because of his long surname, his entire middle name wouldn't fit on the form. So does this mean his middle name is really "C" and not Charles??
My mother's name was Louise Frances xx. At age 18 they got a copy of her birth certificate and found out she was Louis Frances xx and a male. That did not make her legally a male. Things did get corrected.
Don't have a Joe Smith III. Your son deserves his own name.
When he was finishing medical school and contemplating how to affix MD after the II, it came to light that my grandfather was actually named "Joseph Michael Robert Smith" with a second middle name no one ever knew about! Since he was no longer technically a junior, my dad just dropped that and added the MD and all was good! Like this: Katalog Stron Seo
I feel bad for kids named Something Jr, or Something II/III. Give kids their own names
When he was finishing medical school and contemplating how to www.babul-ilm.com affix MD after the II, it came to light that my grandfather was actually named "Joseph Michael Robert Smith" with a second middle name no one Travel ever knew about! Since he was no longer technically a junior, my dad just dropped that and added the MD and all was good! Like this
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