The middle name is a good place to go a little wild.  With the exception of a passport and possibly a marriage certificate, we’re rarely required to reveal our full name as adults.

So if you give your kiddo the middle name Danger, it is usually up to him to reveal his extreme appellation, or to go through life pretending the D is for David.

Then again, he could grow up to be an X-Games athlete, or maybe an International Man of Mystery.  Austin Powers, after all, claimed Danger as his middle name.  (Though Mike Myers went ahead and called his new son Spike.)  It isn’t just an urban legend – from twins in Australia who both share the menacing middle to Jakob Danger Armstrong, son of Green Day frontman Billie Joe, there are kids who do, indeed, have a built-in laugh line in the middle spot.

So let’s say you respect your partner’s longing for a daring, masculine middle – but want something slightly less cliched?  Here are a few ideas.

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