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Don't know about the origins of it but the majority of the time a male Greek's middle name will be his father's first name, whereas this is not a common practice in the UK. Not sure if it's the same for female Greeks.

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Quoting Rifter:

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Quoting Astrakan:

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It's the same in Sweden as it is in Germany. Emigrating to Canada it's been giving me some headaches, as my "middle" name is my primary name but all my identifications have only my "first" name and my last name. Stupid first/middle name system. 

KM

No, it isn't.  Your "official" name is first name: whatever passes for middle name: Surname.

That's the point, my official name is NOT the name that comes first on my birth certificate. My official name is what North American's would refer to as my middle name. This is the way my parents intended it, and the way my name appears on all my original Swedish identification documents - except for my birth certificate.

Quoting Rifter:

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That has nothing to do with the name you use to identify yourself among friends and family.

The point is that it's not just friends and family. My "middle" name is supposed to be my primary name, however you slice it, and the name that I'm supposed to be called by by anyone and everyone - be it in an official status or merely friend/family status.

Quoting Rifter:

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One is no more stupid than another, it's just what you grow up with and are familiar with.

While that's true, I wasn't so much referring to the tradition itself, and more to the government systems, which I wish were more accomodating than they are. As it stands, every single piece of documentation I have that is issued by the Canadian government has the wrong name listed.

A name which I was never intended to be referred to as, and with which I do not associate myself. Simply because the system applies so much importance on which name is listed first on my birth ceritificate, as opposed to what is my true primary and official name.

KM

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I find this discussion quite interesting, thank you all for your constructive input.

For me one question remains:

Why is there a need for a middle name field in DVD Profiler?

It is source for many discussions and uncertainty and it looks like all the passports in the world (including US) can make it with given names(s), Surname.

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It's necessary because you may have to differentiate between several John Smith actors.  The simplest way is to include the middle name, but even that may not be enough in some cases.  Certain names seem to go together and you find them repeated throughout a culture.

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You may decide it's not worth it for any number of reasons, but it's important to keep an open mind about the possibility of improvement.  To refuse to improve simply because it's "unamerican", or the result of an idea or issue from outside the country, is, well, stupid.  Unless of course you're refusing to deal with any localization or internationalization issues at all, in which case it doesn't matter.  However, happily, DVDP is not that isolationist in its design.