Why was a given only 1 christian name

[healyjfch]

All my fathers family had 2 names but only used their first names, 5 siblings

In the Roman Catholic tradition, all babies had to have a Saints name.
The Saints name could come first second or third.

Names could be reused for living siblings for example
Margaret Mary has a sister Mary Margaret

I attended school with a family who all used their 2nd names as if their first.
This caused great confusion for teacher, when she registered the children on Roll book.

[Guy Etchells]

I was the youngest in our family my eldest brother (from a previous marriage) had 1 Christian name. My second brother had 3 Christian names
My sister had 4 Christian names (though I used to add a fifth name as it scanned better), I was given one name, second-hand at that being my mother's maiden surname.

Cheers
Guy

[Jebber]

Some people have always had fancy ideas when it comes to names.

Many years ago I attended a talk given by a professional genealogist, the subject was unusual discoveries made during the course of her research. One item was a photocopy of a baptismal register in which a baby girl had been given twenty five names, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet, the missing letter Y was the initial letter of the surname.

I just wish I could remember the parish the above entry was found.

Jabber

[Kevinshouse]

Many, many thank for all your lovely replies (I loved the one about fish and chips). 
I was talking to my daughter about the subject over Christmas and she tells me she loves her names (lucky girl has 2). I think we get used to our names and we are quite possessive about them, and of course they were chosen by our parents. People seem to suit their name, and sometimes you cannot imagine them having any other name.
Kind regards Susan

[phil56]

Going up my paternal line:

My GG Grandfather was Thomas Arnold Brown
My G Grandfather was Frederic Thomas Brown, his middle name being his father's first name.
My Grandfather was Hugh Arnold Brown, therefore given his grandfather's middle name.
My father was Roger Wyeth Bateman Brown. his two middle names were the maiden names of his grandmothers.
My name is Philip Michael Brown, both names being those chosen by my parents as fashionable at the time of my birth and names they liked.

So in summary, naming convention has probably changed over the years or diverted away from any convention or pattern of old.

[JAKnighton]

My mother only has one christian name, as do all three of her sisters. And in fact so does my older sister. But I have two.

In my family tree, middle names only started to show up with any frequency after 1911.

[radstockjeff]

re Jebber

In "Potty Fartwell and Knob" by Russell Ash p 251 he relates details of the girl given 25 names . Born West Derby Lancashire 19 December 1882 - Ann Bertha Cecilia Diana  Emily Fanny Gertrude  Hypatia  Inaz  Jane Kate Louisa Maud Nora Ophelia Quince Rebecca Starkey Teresa Ulysis Venus Winifred Xenophen Yetty Zeus PEPPER.

radstockjeff

[Trillian]

My mum always told me that my brother and I didn't have middle name because she didn't like hers. She more recently told me that the actual reason was that when deciding on names for my brother (who's the oldest) there were disagreements on which grandfather's name to use as the middle one so they went with neither rather than both

I always find it strange when siblings don't match with the number of given names. Of my Gran's siblings, she has two names, three of her brothers have one name and one brother has three.

[andrewalston]

I thought that a labourer I came across was being pretentious when he married as Herbert Arthur Rothwell Augustus White, but then I found his baptism - and the names matched.

Only single forenames in my part of the family, but both grandfathers had middle names. My paternal grandfather was the first to (nearly) break the row of Christopher followed by Robert. He was Walter Robert.