What's in a (middle) name?

Much has been made in rude (Rush?) circles of President Obama's middle name being the same as the last name of G. Bush's favorite (late) dictator, Saddam Hussein of Iraq.  

Our 44th President wasn't quite sure how to manage this during the inauguration.  He was introduced as 'Barack H. Obama', when he stepped out into the D.C. sunlight on January 20, but he then declared his name fully as 'Barack Hussein Obama' during the oath of office.  

It's certain the President's middle name will be even less an issue now that he's taken office, but it's equally certain he won't be flaunting it either.  Just like most people - including other Presidents.  And that's a shame, since middle names have their own interest.

Gerald R. Ford's middle name was Rudolph.  Was he particularly fond of sleigh-pulling ungulates with so-bright noses? Could he more easily navigate on foggy nights? Or was he just a hapless victim of mirthful parents? In any event, he passed on the possible metaphorical image of a guiding light and just used 'R'.

Richard M. Nixon's middle name was Milhous, and not surprisingly kept that abbreviated.  Just the reverse of some of his staff and conspirators, who abbreviated their first names and accentuated their middles, like E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy.  Maybe if Matt Groening's 'The Simpsons' (around for 20 years now) had been on the air in 1969, Milhous might have had more panache.  But no.

George W. Bush's middle name is 'Walker', and there's not much odd about that.  It would have been much odder if his name was 'Trotter', or 'Runner', or 'Stalker'.  No, his middle name is memorable only in that it is just one name.  His Dad, George H. W. Bush, had two.  A true example of diminishing returns.

Dwight Eisenhower's middle name was 'David', but not always.  At birth he was David Dwight Eisenhower, and switched things around to 'Dwight David'.  I guess he thought 'David' was too common but didn't want to be 'D. Dwight', and so made the change.  He probably should have given it all up as a bad idea and called himself 'D. D.', or 'Deedee'.  (It worked for a Ramone).

Harry S. Truman was seen as a simple man - one of the people and not a sophisticate.  His middle name ably reflected that background.  It is 'S'.  Only the letter and nothing more.  And that befitted our most 'plain speaking' President.  (Either that or his parents were stumped and didn't have a good baby name book handy).

But many of our Presidents had even Harry S. beat when it came to simplicity, eschewing middle names completely.  George Washington himself, the father of our country, was middle nameless, as was Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.  All acknowledged as great Presidents, showing no harmful effects from having just a first and last name to write down in the annals of history.

However, I am not sad the simplicity trend seems to have vanished from Presidential nomenclature.  Middle names should be cherished and shown the light of day, and freed from the bonds of abbreviation.  They give parents a chance to salvage names their spouses vehemently refused to use as first names, often under threat of divorce.  Like 'Baines', 'Fitzgerald', 'Gamaliel', or 'Milhous'.

There is even a Day for middle names - Middle Name Pride Day, held on March 10.  

This year, let's all agree to use our middle names exclusively for that day, unless, of course, you are simpatico with Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, and don't have one. In that case, you'll either have to adopt a middle name for the day, or be left out of the party. 

I suggest 'Milhous'.  Enjoy!