So I remember reading? Or was it on Jeopardy? About some (I remember being) American guy who was born without a middle name, and upon seeing that all his friends had one, asked his father for one for his birthday.
I also remember him being a celebrity? Maybe even President? Though I may just be confusing him for Truman.
Googling “american guy who asked for a middle name for his birthday” doesn’t give any results.
If you’ve also heard this factoid, thanks in advance!
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I’ve never heard of this. Maybe it’s a rumor?
I have not heard this story. But a more common bit of presidential middle name trivia: The ‘S’ was Harry S Truman’s full middle name. It isn’t short for anything.
Well, maybe? Alexander Graham Bell was allowed to adopt the middle name “Graham” on his 11th birthday.
https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-alexander-graham-bell
It was me.
I picked “Batman”.
It’s not much of a surprise my parents lost custody.
Never heard of it.
Middle names don’t really do much for most people. I hide mine because it is also my Dad’s and unisex name in some countries. My parents gave my brother one in case he didn’t like his first name which didn’t happen. My cousin though goes by her middle name.
It’s that name that is on documents and most of them just ask for a middle initial if one exists.
Never heard of that story
So I’m not the guy (I’m not even *a* guy) but I was born without a middle name. I have no idea why my biological mother didn’t give me a middle name but it happened. When my adoption became finalized my parents gave me a middle name. I don’t remember asking for a middle name and I don’t feel any sort of way about the name I have, but I do remember getting that middle name as a “gift”.
Many Americans (particularly those with Asian heritage) don’t have middle names at all. In order to join the military (perhaps other public service jobs but IDK) you need a middle initial, so it’s not uncommon that people add one later in life for this reason. Interestingly, you just need a middle initial, so while picking their mother’s maiden name is probably most common, many just have a single letter as their middle name.
Check out George W Carver, famous scientist. He gave himself that middle initial
Just the other day (on this sub, I believe) I saw a comment that said something along the lines of “Harry Truman was sad that all the other presidents in his class had a middle initial, so he asked his parents for one for his birthday.” I believe they said it was a joke they once heard, though I could be forgetting. I’m not really sure what the point of the joke is, though. He asked for a middle *initial* instead of a middle *name*, so he just got an “S”, I guess, but I feel like I’m kind of missing something with the “all the other presidents in his class” bit.
[John Egbert](https://www.homestuck.com/story), although it was when he turned 13 and it was his entire name.
Haven’t heard this but I know Johnny Cash was born J.R. Cash and the J and R didn’t mean anything. When he was in the army, they didn’t allow just one initial in the first name field, so he had to think of something and chose John.
My grandfather’s middle name is C and my sister was never given one. I go by mine. Names can be a free for all.
Never heard this. Did you try Snopes? Kinda sounds like an old email forward.
It’s not required to have a middle name in America.