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Where did middle names come from? At what point did it become practice to use a first and middle name?
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Here's a site you may find to be interesting, Bobby:
http://www.firmament.com/genealog/howname.htm
Among other things, it explains that "Middle names weren't used until the 15th Century when a second 'first' name was used as a status symbol by German nobility. Many years passed before this practice became widespread, and in the United States, did not become popular until after the Revolutionary War, when the fashion was to use the mother's maiden name."
-- Nanaea
http://www.firmament.com/genealog/howname.htm
Among other things, it explains that "Middle names weren't used until the 15th Century when a second 'first' name was used as a status symbol by German nobility. Many years passed before this practice became widespread, and in the United States, did not become popular until after the Revolutionary War, when the fashion was to use the mother's maiden name."
-- Nanaea
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