Scroll to explore events active on this date.
A toddler playing in the fountain at a park in Santa Fe, New Mexico—Photo LD Lewis. In August, we live through the Dog Days of Summer. It's hot and often humid, and those ...
Can you hear that sigh of relief from parents worldwide? Yes! September marks the return of students to school, a global phenomenon. Preparations for the ACT and SATs begin earnestly for ...
October is the busiest month for events, with 5% more happening than in May, the second most eventful month. Sailing enthusiasts will be glued to the finals of this year's Am...
Middle Name Pride Day is celebrated by telling three people who don't know your middle name what it is and the story behind it.
Through the first 4,500 years of biblical human history, surnames rarely existed, and people operated on a first-name basis. Surnames were infrequent in western society until the tenth century AD, and exceptions occurred, generally within the aristocracy. However, most people were identified by their tribes, culture, city, job, characteristics, or position of influence. Consider King David, Erik the Red, Attila the Hun, Julius Caesar, Socrates, Aesop, John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, and Mary [of} Magdalene. Then a person's name qualified its bearer like a business card rather than today's use of names which act more like a serial number.
The first known use of a middle name occurred in Europe around the 14th century. The use of middle names took off in the 20th century, and they benefit people with ubiquitous first or last names like Mohammed, Joseph, Lin, Mary, and Sarah.
In the United States, individuals can lose their middle name upon marriage, which is why you will see many people with two last names and no middle name. In other societies, generation after generation strings together surnames to trace their family's genealogy and produce really, really long names. Often the wife's last name becomes the children's middle name.
Currently, this event does not have supporting videos.
Currently, this event does not have supporting documents.
Currently, this event does not have supporting images.