middle name
Americannoun
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middle names
plural
noun
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a name between a person's first name and surname
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a characteristic quality for which a person is known
caution is my middle name
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of middle name
An Americanism dating back to 1825–35
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Like many Muslim men, El-Sayed's middle name is Mohamed, but he does not use it publicly.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The former Conservative prime minister and his wife gave their youngest daughter Florence a middle name of Endellion in honour of the Cornish area where they were staying before she was born in 2010.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Fernanda asked to be identified by only her middle name because of her immigration status.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2026
Haley described a little girl who looked a lot like the murder victim, Bethany Alana Clark, who would say her middle name was Alasee and pronounced it “all ah see-ah.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
I turn off the Net and realize I don’t even know my middle name.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
