# Famous Names that Begin With a Single Letter
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 6, 2006, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586 "2006-06-06T06:59:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/1 "2006-06-06T06:59:33Z")
Here’s what I’ve come with so far:
A) A. Mitchell Palmer
B)
C) C. Everett Koop
D)
E)
F) F. Murray Abraham, F. Scott Fitzgerald
G) G. Gordon Liddy
H) H. Ross Perot
I)
J) J. Edgar Hoover
K)
L) L. Ron Hubbard
M) M. Night Shalyaman
N)
O)
P)
Q)
R) R. Dean Taylor
S)
T) T. Boone Pickens
U)
V)
W)
X)
Y)
Z)
Anyone got others to add to the list? (Names that have two initials, like BJ Thomas, don’t count.)
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/2 "2006-06-06T07:33:51Z")
I can’t use two initials? Dag. So much for BB King, PT Barnum and ZZ Top…
But you didn’t exclude THREE intials, so what do I get for W.E.B. DuBois?
Okay, okay.
I got S. Epatha Merkerson from Law & Order.
How 'bout Xbox?
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### Author:  [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/3 "2006-06-06T09:33:53Z")
O. Henry
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### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/4 "2006-06-06T09:39:13Z")
Hmm…don’t all names begin with a single letter? Well, except for Prince back in the old days.
But if you mean names with _only_ a single letter…
Does Q-Tip count as a famous name?
P. Diddy
U Thant
and I suppose _Bea_ Arthur is stretching it, huh?
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/5 "2006-06-06T09:43:07Z")
J. Wellington Wimpy?
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### Author:  [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/6 "2006-06-06T09:57:21Z")
B. Traven (author of _The Treasure of the Sierra Madre_).
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### Author:  [@Peas\_On\_My\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peas_On_My_Head)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/7 "2006-06-06T10:09:19Z")
T. S. Elliot?
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/8 "2006-06-06T10:43:47Z")
H. Beam Piper?
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### Author:  [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/9 "2006-06-06T10:54:57Z")
H G Nelson?
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### Author:  [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/10 "2006-06-06T11:42:01Z")
U Thant
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/11 "2006-06-06T12:34:42Z")
S. Hunter Thompson
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/12 "2006-06-06T12:47:59Z")
[Y. Frank Freeman](http://www.famousstar.de/star_Y_Frank_Freeman.html), former head of production at Paramount. People in Hollywood would mention his name and their friends would reply, “That’s a good question.”
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/13 "2006-06-06T13:01:12Z")
> [@VunderBob](#):
>
> U Thant
I’m not sure this should count. “U” is an honorific, like “Mr.”
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### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/14 "2006-06-06T13:03:20Z")
e e cummings.
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### Author:  [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/15 "2006-06-06T13:07:17Z")
I’m guessing there’s a good chance that Thomas Rowe Price Jr. used the first-initial style himself IRL, as that’s how the [money-management firm that bears his name](http://www.troweprice.com/corporate/0,,,00.html) bills itself.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/16 "2006-06-06T13:14:44Z")
[X. Brands](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0104830/).
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/17 "2006-06-06T13:19:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> [X. Brands](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0104830/).
X, Malcom
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### Author:  [@Seren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seren)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/18 "2006-06-06T13:52:19Z")
J. Bruce Ismay. More of an infamous name, I suppose. Still counts though, right?
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/19 "2006-06-06T14:02:33Z")
Q. Todd Dickinson, former U.S. commissioner of patents. In his case, the “Q.” doesn’t stand for anything (like Harry S. Truman’s “S.”).
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### Author:  [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-that-begin-with-a-single-letter/359586/20 "2006-06-06T14:08:09Z")
And let us not forget Marine-turned-actor [R. Lee Ermey](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000388/).
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