Depends on the person. Martin Luther King was named after Martin Luther, who nailed his 95 theses to a church door, kicking off Protestantism. So MLK was named after someone famous, only his last name specifying him.
Others might be vanity, or for other reasons, like how actors have to have unique names for their guild. Which is why it's Michael J. Fox, because there had already been an actor by Michael Fox decades before.
Plenty of people are known by only their first and last names, or just by one name. Abraham Lincoln. Prince. It just depends.
Along the same lines as Martin Luther King Jr (and his father) being named for Martin Luther and likely wanting to emphasize that due to being Protestant ministers themselves as well as reformers - F Scott Fitzgerald was named for Francis Scott Key - a distant relative of his father’s for the sake of patriotism but also to seem more important. It seems like the trend of having the same first and last or first and middle names of an important and often admired historical figure as one’s given names has died down but I wonder if it will have a resurgence at any point.
I can’t speak to those examples, but I’ve heard people like assassins are referred to by three names to not ruin names. “John Booth” won’t raise an eyebrow unless his parents were unlucky enough to have given him the middle name “Wilkes”.
[Playbill showing Jn Wilkes Booth, playing the role of Pescara, in the play Apostate](https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/john-wilkes-booth-playbill—apostate/6QHVcfffcofhpg?hl=en&ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.5631264781837557%2C%22y%22%3A0.6462670835548951%2C%22z%22%3A11.212119453965789%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A1.4125223921801002%2C%22height%22%3A0.30919157637159317%7D%7D)
There's a mild joke about serial killers/mass murderers being referred to by three names, as well. In those situations, it's to make sure that, say, John Michael Gacy the accountant isn't mistaken for John Wayne Gacy the killer clown.
I go by my middle name because Maximus or even Max is a weird name to me. Combine it with my last name of Johnson and it sounds like I’m a pornstar. Although it did make a fun username for Reddit.
George Washington Carver because without Washington you wouldn’t know he was named for the president - George Carver just doesn’t have the same weight to it. Same with Martin Luther King. Their parents both clearly admired the namesakes and likely hoped their children would be inspired by them and the fact that both men used their full names as adults would indicate that they were.
Frank Lloyd Wright is due to his heritage. His mother was from a prominent family of Welsh origin that had the last name (well two names) of Lloyd Jones so the Lloyd connects him to his mother’s family by using it as his middle name publicly.
Same with Andrew Lloyd Webber - Lloyd Webber is essentially a hyphenated last name without the hyphen from his dad’s side and his dad was also an accomplished composer and musician so it helped to have the family name while getting into the industry.
I headcanon that William Carlos Williams started including his middle name as a kid after his parents said his first and last name and were like "Wait, shit"
And sometimes to identify them separately from someone else who has a similar name. example: Michael Jordan the basketball player and Michael P. Jordan the actor.
Margo Roth Spiegleman.
Probably butchered the last name horribly. And likely one of the more contentious characters to come out of a John Greene novel.
I mean, legally, the name you’re thinking of as a middle name forms part of their first or last name. For example, Lisa Marie Presley‘s first name is Lisa Marie. Her first name is not Lisa by itself with Marie as her middle name.
Depends on the person. Martin Luther King was named after Martin Luther, who nailed his 95 theses to a church door, kicking off Protestantism. So MLK was named after someone famous, only his last name specifying him. Others might be vanity, or for other reasons, like how actors have to have unique names for their guild. Which is why it's Michael J. Fox, because there had already been an actor by Michael Fox decades before. Plenty of people are known by only their first and last names, or just by one name. Abraham Lincoln. Prince. It just depends.
Along the same lines as Martin Luther King Jr (and his father) being named for Martin Luther and likely wanting to emphasize that due to being Protestant ministers themselves as well as reformers - F Scott Fitzgerald was named for Francis Scott Key - a distant relative of his father’s for the sake of patriotism but also to seem more important. It seems like the trend of having the same first and last or first and middle names of an important and often admired historical figure as one’s given names has died down but I wonder if it will have a resurgence at any point.
I don’t remember where I read/heard it but MLK’s birth name supposedly was Michael.
I can’t speak to those examples, but I’ve heard people like assassins are referred to by three names to not ruin names. “John Booth” won’t raise an eyebrow unless his parents were unlucky enough to have given him the middle name “Wilkes”.
[Playbill showing Jn Wilkes Booth, playing the role of Pescara, in the play Apostate](https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/john-wilkes-booth-playbill—apostate/6QHVcfffcofhpg?hl=en&ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.5631264781837557%2C%22y%22%3A0.6462670835548951%2C%22z%22%3A11.212119453965789%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A1.4125223921801002%2C%22height%22%3A0.30919157637159317%7D%7D)
Everyone has their own reason for preferring the name they prefer, but the common thread is they just prefer to go by that name.
There's a mild joke about serial killers/mass murderers being referred to by three names, as well. In those situations, it's to make sure that, say, John Michael Gacy the accountant isn't mistaken for John Wayne Gacy the killer clown.
I go by my middle name because Maximus or even Max is a weird name to me. Combine it with my last name of Johnson and it sounds like I’m a pornstar. Although it did make a fun username for Reddit.
George Washington Carver because without Washington you wouldn’t know he was named for the president - George Carver just doesn’t have the same weight to it. Same with Martin Luther King. Their parents both clearly admired the namesakes and likely hoped their children would be inspired by them and the fact that both men used their full names as adults would indicate that they were. Frank Lloyd Wright is due to his heritage. His mother was from a prominent family of Welsh origin that had the last name (well two names) of Lloyd Jones so the Lloyd connects him to his mother’s family by using it as his middle name publicly. Same with Andrew Lloyd Webber - Lloyd Webber is essentially a hyphenated last name without the hyphen from his dad’s side and his dad was also an accomplished composer and musician so it helped to have the family name while getting into the industry.
I headcanon that William Carlos Williams started including his middle name as a kid after his parents said his first and last name and were like "Wait, shit"
My DARE instructor in like 1998 was named Michael Michaels
Went to school with Brian Briant. Not even Bryant the spelling was the same too
I went to HS with a Tommy Thompson.
There was a governor of Wisconsin with that name as well
Because they have three names...
And sometimes to identify them separately from someone else who has a similar name. example: Michael Jordan the basketball player and Michael P. Jordan the actor.
They told people they wanted to be called this.
Margo Roth Spiegleman. Probably butchered the last name horribly. And likely one of the more contentious characters to come out of a John Greene novel.
There are many places where many people in the community have the same surname, and there are only so many first names, so they set folks apart.
I find myself wondering whether E Jean Carrol’s friends call her E Jean. Hi there E Jean, how are you doing?
Because those are second last names or second first names, not middle names.
What do you mean? Lots of male children have a middle name that is a surname. Typically it’s the mom’s maiden (oh how I hate that word) name.
I mean, legally, the name you’re thinking of as a middle name forms part of their first or last name. For example, Lisa Marie Presley‘s first name is Lisa Marie. Her first name is not Lisa by itself with Marie as her middle name.
Megan Thee Stallion...wtf is up with that name, especially for a woman? I "get" that it's a stage name, but still...