Are There Restrictions on What I Can Name My Child

[Feltephant]

This concerns Michigan. And it may prove obvious, but I'm using fake names here.

I'm pregnant and my husband and I have planned to give the baby two middle names and two last names (no hyphen, I am not a fan of punctuation within names). So, let's say, Veronica Elizabeth Francine Mathers Washington. Let me say that for child abuse concerns, the real names are mostly monosyllabic I hadn't thought there would be a problem with this. Recently a friend of mine got married and took her husband's last name, and tried to make her maiden name a second middle name. So, let's say, Sally Ann Smith becomes Sally Ann Smith Jones. She was told that she could either hyphenate the two last names, or drop the Ann and use Smith as her middle name, but she could not have two middle names. I realize these are two different situations, but are there any laws in Michigan that would keep us from giving our child two middle and two last names? Would the hyphen be required?

And because I (and she) found the rejection of her name preference to be odd... is it true that one cannot add a middle name later in life?

Thanks!

[cbg]

Who told her that she could not have two middle names? A lawyer, the hospital, a next door neighbor?

My brother has two middle names. He is named first, for a maternal great-grandfather, second, our father, third, our paternal grandmother's maiden name (every third member of the family has that tacked onto their name somewhere) and finally, our family name. So he is (and these are also fake names) Douglas Edward Fredericks Gordon.

On the other hand, he was not born in Michigan either. Close, but the wrong side of the line.

[Feltephant]

Who told her that she could not have two middle names? A lawyer, the hospital, a next door neighbor?

The person behind the desk at the Married Lady Changing Her Name office. I'm sure that's not the official name for it, but wherever it is that people change their names when they get married. I hear it has something to do with Michigan driver's licences having the full middle name, not just the initial, and if you have two middle names, then that's just too much to put on a card. So to spite them I may just pick out a first, middle and last name with 20 letters each. Kidding.

[LawResearcherMissy]

The woman is full of baloney.

You can name your baby Tallulah Does The Hula From Hawaii (like some crazy Aussies did a few years ago), and the government doesn't get to say diddly-boo about it.

And because I (and she) found the rejection of her name preference to be odd... is it true that one cannot add a middle name later in life?

No. If that were the case, there'd be a church/state issue, as many devout Catholics adopt their confirmation name as part of their legal name. My mother, for instance, was Deborah Ann Marie Hermaidenname Hermarriedname on all legal documents, Marie being her confirmation name.

[Mr. Knowitall]

I suspect that the problem is that she ran into a bureaucrat who saw spaces for three names on the form, and concluded that it was only possible to have three names.

I actually don't know that it's possible to have "two surnames", or a two-word surname with no hyphenation. I expect that when you put the space in you're essentially transforming the first surname into a final "middle name".

[Feltephant]

I actually don't know that it's possible to have "two surnames", or a two-word surname with no hyphenation. I expect that when you put the space in you're essentially transforming the first surname into a final "middle name".

Eeep! For some reason I didn't expect to have such a problem with the last names since hyphenating is such a big thing, and I just figured we'd save everyone a hyphen's worth of toner if we left out the hyphen. See, I tried to convince my husband to give our child only my last name, but he didn't go for that! He's the one making this difficult, really. Kidding.

Wait! What about people whose last name is Van der Snoot or whatever. Don't tell me on forms it shows up as VanderSnoot. Do not.

[Dogmatique]

Wait! What about people whose last name is Van der Snoot or whatever. Don't tell me on forms it shows up as VanderSnoot. Do not.

Then I will not.

(But someone else told me to tell you that it has occasionally happened that way....)

[cbg]

My sister's married name is one of those names, and yes, as a matter of fact, on some forms it DOES show up that way.

[Feltephant]

Then I will not.

(But someone else told me to tell you that it has occasionally happened that way....)

Ha!!! Thanks for the input, guys.

Well, alright. So names like Van der Snoot often show up on forms as VanderSnoot, but the name is really Van der Snoot. Nobody told Mr. and Mrs. Van der Snoot that they had to hyphenate or choose either Van or Snoot for their child's last name. So even if our kid has a few things in which its name appears as SmithJones, legally the surname is really Smith Jones... I guess I'll find out in about five months...

[kamikake]

Ok...I had to put my 2 cents in here. Me and my 2 siblings, as well as 2 of my 3 boys all have 4 names (2 middle names) and have never had a problem. There ARE times where my first middle name alone is used simply because of spacing, (DL for instance) but that in no way negates the fact that I do indeed legally, have 4 names.