Insouciant is my middle name.

Why Do We Have Middle Names?

'Almost all of us have a middle name, but it seems few people know why middle names exist.

It turns out the use of middle names in the United States is relatively new.

In fact, they were almost unheard of before the late 1700s. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and even Abraham Lincoln did not have middle names.

It was German immigrants who first brought the custom to the U.S. in the early 19th century.

They traditionally gave their kids two names: a spiritual one, usually named for a saint, and a secular one used to be used on a daily basis.

Secular names eventually became known as middle names and by World War I almost all Americans had one.

Today they are used for identification and to tell people apart but middle names are mostly used as a way to honor or preserve family names.'