Baby Middle Name

Congratulations go out to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband, Todd, and the rest of the family, who welcomed Trig Paxton Van Palin a month early, on April 18. Not only does the baby boy have two middle names; all of his names are unusual. Paxton is becoming more and more popular as a first name, so it’s fitting that it would be a hot choice for a middle name as well. According to the Anchorage Daily News, it’s in honor of the small snowmobiling town of Paxton, Alaska. As for the second middle name, the paper also quoted Todd Palin as saying, “We’ve always liked the middle name Van because, you know, growing up in the ’80s, Van Palin would be a really cool name.” His siblings also have names you don’t hear every day: Piper, Willow, Bristol and Track.

Though born April 10, the new daughter of former Law & Order star Elisabeth Rohm and her fiance, Ron Wooster, has another month for a middle name: August. In fact, Easton August Anthony has two middle names. Rohm’s publicist told the Associated Press that Anthony is a family name and the rest came to Rohm in a dream. Months are fun choices for middle names or even first names. One of singer Dion DiMucci’s daughters in named August. And of course there are little Mays, Junes, Aprils and even Januarys running around!

I enjoyed watching Finola Hughes as Anna Devane on All My Children. Now, she’s added child number three, Sadie Beatrice Young, with husband Russell Young. Soap Opera Weekly reports that the baby, born four months ago, got her middle name thanks to family history: Both parents have relatives with that name, and Hughes also said the baby “looks old-fashioned.”