Historical Middle Names #1

Guess the "middle" names of these famous historical figures.
This quiz does not suggest that these are birth names
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: August 30, 2018
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First submittedOctober 12, 2010
Times taken47,212
Average score51.9%
Rating3.52
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Name
Martin Luther King
Johann Sebastian Bach
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
John Jacob Astor
William Jefferson Clinton
John Paul Jones
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Billie Jean King
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Hillary Rodham Clinton
John Wilkes Booth
Arthur Conan Doyle
Francis Scott Key
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry David Thoreau
Thomas Alva Edison
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Edgar Allan Poe
Robert Louis Stevenson
Hans Christian Andersen
William Henry Harrison
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
George Walker Bush
William Jennings Bryan
+1
Level 21
Apr 15, 2011
i cant spell mozarts name...amadeus?
+1
Level 70
Feb 6, 2015
I think there are harder ones to spell :D
+1
Level 57
Apr 20, 2011
What about George Herbert Bush?
+2
Level 84
Jun 27, 2014
It was George Herbert Walker Bush. Two middle names.
+1
Level 23
Jul 13, 2011
That would be George Herbert Walker Bush.
+3
Level 37
Oct 11, 2016
Um: The father is George Herbert Walker Bush.

The son is George Walker Bush

+6
Level 40
Jan 27, 2012
Amadeus (actually Amadè) is not his name at all but a nickname he gave himself based on one of his middle names. His name listed in baptismal records was: Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.
+2
Level 33
Mar 5, 2013
What's the point of all this pedantry? It's a name and it's in the middle... therefore it's a middle name. Deal with it.
+3
Level 27
Mar 14, 2013
Well it's actually interesting to get enlightened about this.
+3
Level 73
Jun 2, 2014
Also, that other cultures have very different naming systems. On classical composers news, Johann Sebastian Bach would have gone by "Sebastian" in his life- most of his brothers were also Johann Bachs...
+2
Level 63
Jul 28, 2017
And his father and 5 of his sons, as well as a few grandsons.
+1
Level 68
Jan 29, 2022
Pedantry is kinda the whole point of this page! I love it.
+1
Level 75
Mar 24, 2023
There's an important distinction to be made between adding an interesting bit of additional information (trivia) and saying, "this quiz is wrong and it needs to be changed because here's something inconsequential that I know."
+2
Level 54
Sep 21, 2012
100% 2:42 to spare.
+2
Level 28
Mar 15, 2013
Also, "Allan" was not Edgar Allan Poe's middle name. It was his surname given at birth, while "Poe" was the surname he took on when he was adopted.
+3
Level 13
Aug 1, 2013
Actually the other way around. Edgar Poe was his birth name, and he was adopted by the Allan family.
+2
Level 37
Oct 11, 2016
Who CARES!!!

He was KNOWN as Edgar Allen Poe.

Save the superciliousness for a more appropriate forum.

+7
Level 83
Oct 8, 2017
Jetpunk is, I think, an entirely apt forum for such pedantry.
+1
Level 52
Jun 11, 2013
Only 42% Of People Got Thomas Alva Edison? That's Sad.
+3
Level 84
Jun 27, 2014
Not sure why this is sad. I'm sure nearly everyone knows Edison, but it's not that important that they know his middle name, is it? Besides, Tesla > Edison. :-)
+2
Level 76
Apr 25, 2015
The second "Boutros" is part of his surname Boutros-Ghali, not a middle name.
+2
Level 72
Feb 29, 2016
why do I always think it's Thomas Alba Edison. sigh
+1
Level 76
Apr 6, 2019
Totally tried Alba first.
+1
Level 62
Aug 20, 2019
I said that too &@$!!
+1
Level 69
Jun 25, 2017
Everyone's objections could be addressed in one fell swoop by changing the description to guessing the middle name these people *were most known by*, or something to that effect.
+1
Level 37
Jul 6, 2017
Sorry bkemp2001 - Your argument doesn't hold water. I'm not sure about boutros- but as to Garcia Marquez and Joyner-Kersee:

Marquez was his mother's maiden name (just as Fitzgerald was JKF's mother Rose's middle name.

Joyner was Joyner-Kersee's maiden name before she got married.

+3
Level 59
Dec 11, 2017
Where’s Alexander THE Great?!
+4
Level 57
Jan 1, 2018
Hillary Clinton's middle name is Diane. Rodham is her surname.
+2
Level 31
Apr 10, 2018
Well her maiden name rather than surname but we know what you mean. I think this quiz is more about the extra names that they were known by rather than their legal middle names.
+2
Level 83
Jun 1, 2018
It's nice that you included Led Zeppelin's bass player.
+1
Level 84
Mar 9, 2020
Eehhh.... I know this is way late, and perhaps won't be read... but anyway: Gabriel García Márquez doesn't qualifies for this quiz, at least in the "middle name" sense. Let me break his name:Gabriel: First name. Just the way almost every language uses it.García: Paternal surname. This one is what you (English-speakers) use as last name.Márquez: Maternal surname. This is what you call "maiden last name", but with a catch:The women in Spanish-speaking countries don't lose their surnames due to marriage. They might add their husbands' first surname after their first surname, prefixed with "de" ("of"), for example: "Luisa Márquez de García" (in case you wonder, Gabriel's mother). And even this practice is losing ground faster and faster.

So, García's "everyday's" name is Gabriel García. But, since this is a rather common name-surname combo, the maternal surname is used to further identify him: Gabriel García Márquez.

+1
Level 75
Mar 16, 2024
So he's commonly known as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Marquez is in the middle.
+2
Level 52
Nov 11, 2020
Not sure if he’s completely worthy of this quiz, but J.S. Bach’s son Johann Christian Bach is worth noting. He was quite influential to the development of the concerto and sonata form.