Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
This differs from what I have noticed to be the usual anglo convention which is that the "middle name" is usually not in every day use.
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It depends on the family. On my mom's side ("old stock" Irish Catholic), all women are named Mary, though my mom and her sister ended the practice when they had their own daughters. In everyday use, you'd use the second or third name. An older naming convention for boys on my maternal grandfather's side died out after him and his brother (who, like their father and his brothers) all shared one of two first names that were never used in practice. On my dad's side, the father's first name becomes the son's (or sons') middle name, so I'd never use my middle name to refer to myself.
In my family, we take a confirmation name as a second or third middle name. This practice appears to be dying out, and apparently was never used in most Catholic countries/ethnic groups. In a few environments--where use of my given name would be confusing for whatever reason--I go by my confirmation name. I would guess that this is rare.