為什麼外國人會強調自己的中間名呢？

大家好，我是現住在倫敦的美國人，也是「最好英文名」的創始人。最好英文名是給中國人提供最全面，最多訪客，更是最被信任的取英文名的網上資源。

Hi Guys, Lindsay here, I am American living in London and founder of Best English Name - Chinas most visited and trusted resource for choosing an English name!

中間名確實是一個非常有趣的玩意兒。以下幾點是讓你們更好理解中間名這個定義哦。

Middle names are such a funny thing. So there are a few things you should know about middle names to understand them.

載入超時，點擊重試

• 很多時候，父母都會用家庭某位成員的名字來作為子女的中間名。舉個例子，我的中間名是「Kaye」，我的外婆和媽媽都使用這個中間名。有時候，大家也會使用其他，他們喜歡的名字當作中間名。
  Often times parents reserve the middle name to honor someone in their family, so often times this is a family name. For example, my own middle name is 「Kaye」 - my mother and grandmother both used this middle name. Sometimes people will also use another name they love as the middle name.

• 在國外，當女生嫁人時，通常都會選擇隨夫姓。她們會將自己的姓氏轉變為中間名。因此，她們的娘家姓就成為了中間名。而她們新的名字將變成：「名，娘家姓，新姓氏」。拿我來舉個例子，如果我老公姓「Green」，那麼，我原來的名字「Lindsay Kaye Jernigan」，就變為「Lindsay Jernigan Green」。
  When women get married and choose to take the mans name, they often get rid of their middle name and move their original surname, now called their 「Maiden Name」 to their middle name. Therefore their name now looks like: First Name, Maiden Name, New Surname. So take my name for example, 「Lindsay Kaye Jernigan」 would turn into 「Lindsay Jernigan Green」 (This is if I were to marry my boyfriend, with the surname Green!).

• 如果有人不喜歡自己的名，那她們可以將中間名當使用日常生活的名字使用。事實上我爸爸就是這樣做的！他出生於1940年代，在美國的這個年代，很多人的名字都是相當奇怪。例如，我爸爸的原名是「Oswell Dean Jernigan」，但是Oswell是一個非常奇怪，而且很老氣的名字，所以，他就用中間名「Dean」取代，現在日常生活中，大家都叫他「Dean」。
  If people really do not like their given name, they might choose to use their middle name in daily life. This is actually what my own father does! He was born in the 1940s. During this time in America there were some very strange names that people were using! He was named 「Oswell Dean Jernigan」, but 「Oswell」 is a very, very strange and old sounding name, so he goes by 「Dean」 in everything he does!

• 中間名不是必須的。中間名起源於中世紀，當很多歐洲人不知道如何決定給他們的孩子一個家庭名字，或是聖徒的名字。他們決定給自己的孩子取一個名，但還可以有另外一個選擇，因此作為中間名。這是一個非常古老的習俗。在現代化里，中間名是可以被省略掉的。
  You do not have to have a middle name. Middle names originated be in the Middle Ages when Europeans couldnt decide weather to give their child a family name or the name of a saint. When they decided which name they wanted to use for the given name, they would give the other option as the middle name. So this is a very old practice that is definitely not necessary today.

• 有些人喜歡把中間名也用在日常生活中。我又用我家人來舉個例子！我是來自美國南部，孟菲斯是美國田納西州的一個城市。在這個城市，「雙重名」是非常普遍的，這意味著大家的「名」和「中間名」都可以一起被使用。例如：Emma Claire, Anna Cate, Martha Kay。這件名字都可以當作是她們日常的名字。這大概是文化的差異！在美國，不同地區的人們對中間名，有著自己的愛好和習俗。比起其他英語國家，美國是更加普遍使用"雙重名"
  Some people choose to incorporate their middle name into their everyday name. Going back to my own family! I am from the Southern part of the United States - Memphis, Tennessee. In this area it is very common to have double names, meaning that people use their first name and their middle name together. For example: Emma Claire, Anna Cate, Martha Kay. They use both names as their main name. This answers part of your question - it is a cultural thing! Its something that people in different parts of America love to do. It is more common in the US than other English speaking countries.

• 最後，在拼寫全名時，只需要拼寫中間名的首字母。大家只用中間首字母是大概是為了把全名簡短化。如果有人使用一個很普遍的名字。例如：John Smith，很多人就用中間名的首字來區分是不同的人。這僅僅是一個比較老的習俗，當你如果看見全名的中間出現一個字母，那就是代表著中間名，只是簡短了很長的名字！

  And lastly, to answer your other question, the middle name letters that you see are just initials for the full names. These people that are using just the initial to make it shorter. Sometimes when people have a really common name like John Smith, they might use their middle initial in certain cases to distinguish themselves a bit. For the most part this a little bit of an outdated practice, but when you do see a letter as a middle name, it is just the abbreviation of a longer name!

總結一下！很多人想突出自己的中間名，那是他們更喜歡中間名。其實，有很多人都是沒有中間名的，有些人把中間名放在一起，可能是因為這是父母安排的，又或是他們只想用中間名的首字名與別人區分開來。還有一部分人，在結婚以後，完全捨棄了她們的中間名，更有一些人完完全全不想公開他們的中間名！這完全是個人的隱私！

So there you are! Some people emphasize their middle names because they like it better than their given name, other people dont even have a middle name, some people loop it in with their first name, because this is what their parents had planned, some people borrow the initial to stand out, other completely ditch their middle name when they get married, and other have such embarrassing family middle name they never tell anyone what it is! Its a personal decision!