My full name is Catherine, but I have always gone by Kate. I HATE being called Katie, but my mother has always called me that, so my relatives usually do too. Sometimes when I meet someone new, they start calling me Katie, and I immediately correct them-it is like nails down a chalkboard to me.
My daughter's name is Eleanor, and people always ask me if she has a nickname, and I tell them no, just Eleanor. I don't like Ellie, although Ella would be ok-if she liked it. Sometimes my neighbor calls her El, which is fine too..(She has a niece named Eleanor and I think that is what they call her sometimes).
I don't think it is a trivial matter, names are very important and I find myself liking people less when they insist on calling me by the wrong name.
I like middle names, but I don't use mine except on legal documents. In my family everyone has the same first name-mother/daughter, father/son, so middle names are important, as they distinguish parent from child..But I don't think it is absolutely necessary. Most of my relatives are Catholic and they use their confirmation names as middle names, most Irish families do it that way.
My brother and I were both given middle names at birth, which is unusual in my family. My brother was named after both his grandfathers, and my father liked the alliteration of Catherine Anne, so that is why I got a middle name. Since I was never confirmed, it worked out well.
ETA: my daughter has a middle name, which is Catherine, a bow to the family tradition of naming first daughter after her mother...My mother was unhappy that Catherine was going to be her middle name instead of her first name! I just mention this because people are so weird about naming. If her first name had been Catherine, she would be the fourth Catherine in a row.
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