<P> Traditional middle names in Vietnamese are "Văn" for male names and "Thị" for female names . However, modern Vietnamese do not consider these to be attractive names, especially "Thị". Therefore, nowadays popular middle names also are popular first names . Middle names play an important role in Vietnamese full names; they could help creating beautiful names when combine with first names, distinguishing people who have the same first name (there are many common last names in Vietnam), and also distinguishing the gender of the names (unisex names are used widely in Vietnam). Hence, Vietnamese rarely abbreviate their middle names . </P> <P> In names of Filipinos, the middle name is usually a maternal surname, which is the maiden surname of a person's mother . The use of the maternal surname as middle name is from American influence, where Filipinos adopted English naming customs, when they once used Spanish naming customs, that used two surnames (paternal and maternal) joined with the particle y (or e, before "i"), which remains in use but became restricted to very formal purposes, police records and legal proceedings . In the Spanish naming system, the middle name corresponds to the maternal surname . The middle name (or the maternal surname) is usually being abbreviated to a middle initial . Thus, a person with the full name Juan Santos Macaraig, with Santos the middle name in the present order, may become Juan S. Macaraig with the middle name abbreviated, and Juan Macaraig y Santos in the Spanish system, such as those used in names on police records, especially those seen on name placards held by a convicted person on official mug shots . The Philippine system, using "given name - middle name - surname" order (or "Christian name - mother's surname - father's surname") coincidentally follows the Portuguese naming system that uses two surnames, the first being maternal and the second being paternal . </P> <P> But, the maternal surname may not be the middle name at some cases . It may be a second given name, like what the term really means, as in Jose P. Laurel, where "P ." (a middle initial) corresponds to Paciano . </P> <P> In illegitimate children, the middle name is the maiden surname of the mother, and the middle name (maternal surname) of the mother as surname, but the surname become of the father's upon legal and administrative acknowledgement by his / her father . Children of a single father takes no middle name, even when the mother's identity is known . </P>

What is the difference between middle name and last name