We live in a small rural town... my husband his father and his grandfather all have the same first name but a different middle name. They all go by their middle name... should I follow the trend?

I would necessarily keep the trend but also change it. Use Arnold for the middle name and use a different for the first. Just a small twist.

My son should have been a fourth junior (same first and middle name), but broke the tradition because we both didn’t want to name our son the same name, which also happens to be a very common name. No one complained about the change in the tradition.If it’s important to both of you, I think a good solution is to use Arnold as a middle name.

I like passing along family names. I convinced my husband to make our first son a JR. I'd keep the tradition

If he is going to go by his middle name like the rest of them it won’t matter if it is first. People that know your family will know his first name but they will also know the meaning and significance of it. Anyone else will just know him by his middle name. My husband has the same thing in his family. My son is at least the 5th generation to carry it on. His first name is James though so it is a little better.I have to say there are still people who are surprised when they find out my husband’s first name isn’t Drew. Haha.

My hisbands daughter was over the moon when we gave our son a different name He is catholic and I'm not but I went biblical n let my kids help choose.I gave him dads middle name though