Middle name question

When we had daniel we decided it would be nice his middle name came from our family given that boys last names generally don't ever change when they get married so he will always have DH's familys name so it would be cool to have something from us too so we gave him my dads name for his middle name.

My dad was sooooo chuffed when we told him after Daniel was born that we used his middle name and were glad we kept it a secret until then.

With this one I think it would be cool to do the same kinda thing rather than just giving a middle name that means nothing. My grandad died almost a year ago and he was the coolest grandad ever and I thought it would be cool to use his name but its really old fashioned... Lionel.

Not much really like gels with it. We have 2 names that we like for the first name (but we are keeping one a secret). I don't know my grandads middle name and I don't wanna ask family cause that ruins the surprise aspect and if I dont know his middle name it doesn't hold as much meaning..

Would you just use Lionel?

We used DH's Grandmother's name for Hannah's middle name, and will be using DH's first name as this one's middle name (family tradition on that one).
So I love the idea of using Lionel, since it has a special meaning to you.

Could you double-barrel it? Pick a middle name that does gel with your chosen christian name and add Lionel in there as a nod to your Grandfather?

Unfortunately his last name sounds hideous with our last name and I'd feel a bit sorry for him having to spell 2 out of his 3 names

Use it, or do a sneaky and see if you can find something at your mums place to do with family documents. Only other thing I can think of is if he went to War I know how we can find details about family names.

I would use it and I actually really like Lionel! Although I can see your problem if it doesn't work with your first names. We had to change the name I really wanted to DS1 as it didn't work with the middle name - he would have been Beau Pete...

My boys have traditional and old school middle names of Peter and Edward - one from DH's side and one from mine. I like that they have traditional names as their first names aren't.

I think I will just use it. It doesnt really really clash with the first name choices we have at the mo. And I just realised how close his anniversary is to my due date. Kinda freaky.

Thing is how often do you use middle names apart from filling in forms etc.
The only time my parents ever used both my first and middle name was when I was in trouble or they wanted my attention.
A lot of people use their grandparents middle names giving a lot of kids old fashioned middle names.
My girl will have Sheryl it doesn't necessarily go with either Catherine or Poppy, but its my late-Mum's name and was always going to be used regardless of what the 1st name is.

Yeah I think it's quite cute too!

I think Lionel is funky!!! Use it!!!

I would use...middle names are hardly ever used day to day so if it is not your favourite but has special meaning then it won't matter.