I was never really famous for my first name, but my middle name is quite well-known! It’s so popular that people often refer to me by only my middle name instead of using my full legal name.
I got this middle name when I was around 5 years old. Back then, my parents didn't have any children, so they decided to choose an Italian last name as a placeholder until their child arrived. At that time, they were in Italy for several months, so they opted to use the local language — which happened to be spelt just like mine!
It's been more than 10 years since then, but my little family has stuck with this pattern. Even though they've lived all across the world, my dad always puts his daughter down as Aili (the Italian version of Alia) before bed every night.
As you can probably tell, my middle name is not Alexander. It is Francisco! And before some people get all crazy and question whether or not this was indeed intentional, yes, it was!
I have always loved strong names as personal identifiers. They serve as labels that help identify who someone is. A person’s first name often comes from their parents’ surnames, which are usually very strong-sounding ones. So, being given a strong surname as a child makes sense.
But what happens when those two things come together? An interesting combination! You have a strong name with a weak suffix (like “Smith” or “Williams”). This creates an incomplete identity, leaving part of the label out.
That’s why I never felt comfortable using my father’s last name — even though he went to great lengths to make sure everyone called him Smith. He didn’t like being labelled by just his last name, so he made it clear to others how to refer to him. To me, that seemed really unnecessary and sometimes pretentious.
Luckily for me, there were no longer any requirements to use my dad’s last name! So, instead of feeling insecure about it, I started identifying more fully with my own.
A few weeks ago, I saw an indie film that left a strong impression on me. It was called Living in Your Truth. About two hours long, but it’s definitely worth your time if you love to watch movies.
Living in Your Truth is about a twenty-something college student who comes home early one day to find his apartment completely ransacked. Along with some of his belongings being stolen, there’s also a note saying he should look into his past because they know something terrible has him scared or even desperate.
The audience doesn’t quite figure out what this mysterious threat is until around halfway through when everything drops into place. But by then, we’re so invested in watching these characters work towards confronting their fears that we don’t want to be distracted.
After realizing what had happened, our main character decides to do something drastic. He writes down all the things he can’t stand thinking about himself and then puts the list away. Two days later, he goes back and reads the items on the list and now here he is telling everyone about them for fear someone will think the same thing and hurt themselves or others.
A few years ago, my life was pretty simple. I lived in South Florida, I worked as an accountant for a big firm, and I spent most of my time outside of work sleeping, eating, and spending time with my family.
I didn’t drink alcohol, I never got into fights, and I always made sure to put God first in my daily life.
It wasn’t because I was too busy being productive, it’s just that I didn’t find much motivation to be unproductive.
And then one day, out of nowhere, I decided to do something crazy.
I bought 100 copies of every book in the Bible. Yes, all of them! Not only did I buy each copy, but I also organized by chapter and verse so that I could quickly lookup a passage while reading.
This is what I referred to as my “Bible Study Collection.” It took me around a year to complete since I would spend anywhere from one to three hours per week studying (and sometimes listening to the audio version instead).
But during that year, I learned more about the bible than I ever have before.
As you can probably tell, my middle name is famous! Some people even refer to me as The Daughter of Midnight or The Child of Moon and Stars. Others call me the Little Witch with the Yellow Hair!
I first noticed my middle name when I was about 6 years old. At that time, I didn’t understand why everyone seemed to have such an interest in my family. It took me several more years before I finally connected all the names. When I did, it made sense and everything fell into place.
My father gave me this name for a reason. He said he wanted someone special to recognize him after he died so they would know who he was beyond his life here on Earth.
It feels good to be recognized after you die but only if you were worthy of being called by that name while you lived. This isn’t always the case though. Many times, we get distracted by our selfish desires and forget what it is we are supposed to be doing until it is too late.
Many people know my middle name is ‘Taylor’, but few realize how famous it has become. It seems like every media outlet has published at least one article about me or features me in some way.
It all started with an interview I gave back in August where I talked about what it was like to grow up as the child of two working parents. At that time, my middle initial stood for something completely different – “Finding Happiness In Your Life”.
Since then, my middle initial has grown in popularity and stands for something much more powerful. People have connected the word Taylor with everything from finding happiness in your life to motivating you to keep moving forward even when you don't feel like it.
Many people know my middle name is Margaret, but few know how famous it is. It’s not just because of that pretty little suffix, either!
It was my great-grandmother’s maiden name, which she passed down to me. And since her last name was Smith, I too received this surname as part of my lineage.
Not only does this make me feel very connected to my family history, but it also raises my self-esteem due to the rich legacy that I carry within myself.
My inner child must be celebrating! He or she gets to admire themselves for being related to such an important person in our past.
So even though I never met my grandmother, she left a strong impression on me through the things she did and who she was. This has inspired me to keep working hard to achieve my dreams and to always put my best foot forward.
I hope you enjoyed reading about some ways in which your middle name can influence your life.
Many people know my first name, but very few people can spell my last name or recognize me from it. This is because I only use my middle name for professional purposes!
My middle name is Rose, which was given to me when I was born. It is not my favourite name, but I like it better than my birth name Katherine.
I never used my full legal name in public until I was twenty-one years old. At that time, I made an appearance with my parents at Disney World! Since then, it has been widely known and recognized.
Many people assume that since I use my middle name for business, I am hiding something about myself. Nothing could be further from the truth — I love using my middle name and having everyone learn my real name!
It helps promote my career as a writer and artist. People who know my true identity get excited every time they see my pen name or hear my middle name mentioned.
There’s no way to tell how many people recognize my middle name, but it’s definitely in the thousands. While some may think that’s impressive, I have much more than meets the eye when it comes to my middle name.
It’s not just my parents that call me Taylor, it is also all of my relatives. For example, my paternal great-grandmother took one look at her firstborn son and said, “That boy will be a Taylor!” She then proceeded to use that as his full legal last name for the next thirty years.
My maternal grandmother always called me Tara, so she didn’t realize what was going on until I was about eight years old. By then it was too late — she had already started using my middle name as my official last name!
I never asked why my grandma chose to do this, but I assume it has something to do with being an Irish Catholic. A lot of my family members still refer to me by both names interchangeably, which is pretty cool.
On top of that, there are times when I feel like my middle name is even bigger than my given one! Like when someone calls me Taylor or says my name sounds familiar, and then you get a small break before they ask if it’s because I am related to The Kardashians or something similar.
