In yesterday's post we learned that three of the presidents who appear to have unusual first names actually went by their middle names. It seems pretty standard to have a common first name and a not-so-common middle name. I assume that more of us meet that description than those whose middle name is more common than their first. (But come to think of it, both my brother and sister fall in the latter category, as does at least one former regular reader at Benzene.)

Among presidents, very few are in the second category. Those with uncommon first names — besides Grover, Woodrow, and Calvin — have equally uncommon middle names (eg, Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Lyndon Baines Johnson). Those with middle names that are almost normal have even more normal first names (eg, James Abram Garfield, James Earl Carter). Only two presidents have a middle name which is clearly more common than their first: Chester Alan Arthur and Dwight David Eisenhower.

President Eisenhower's grandson, Dwight David Eisenhower II, goes by his middle name David. He married presidential daughter Julie Nixon.

Camp David, the presidential retreat in the mountains of western Maryland, was named for David Eisenhower.

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