What’s your middle name? Recently I’ve noticed something funny…

People giving their babies offbeat middle names.

When I was growing up in the eighties, everyone I knew had pretty basic middle names: Andrew, Jacob, Marie, Anne. But nowadays middle names are on fire!

Danger. Valentine. Sunshine.

My friend gave her baby the middle name “Swift” because her labor was so quick.

Our friends chose the middle name “Buffalo” for their son because it was his dad’s nickname growing up. “It took my husband nine months to convince me,” my friend told me. “Then, in the middle of the night after signing the birth certificate, I had a mild panic attack at the hospital. Now I love it.”

A journalist named Justin Rocket Silverman explains his name: “That has been my name since I was eight years old. Before that it was Justin R. Silverman. That’s still my legal name. But at the tender age of eight I asked my dad why I had only a middle initial, and he told me that he and mom had done that so that I could choose my own middle name. As long as it started with the letter “R.” So I did what any eight-year-old boy in his right mind would do and I picked ‘Rocket.’ ”

What’s your middle name? What about your children? I’d love to hear… Toby’s middle name is Paul, after my grandfather, and Anton’s middle name is James, after Jim Morrison (Alex’s pick!).

P.S. The most popular baby names, and the crazy things you do as a parent.

(Photo by Charles Gullung)