# Figures who use initials as part of their names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648 "2012-11-20T21:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/61 "2012-11-21T05:07:30Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I don’t know if athletes count as arty types, so I’ll nominate O.J. Simpson. He’s certainly been a notorious figure apart from his football career and his “acting”. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > He was also an actor of sorts, therefore an arty type. Yes, “of sorts.” I mentioned that. That was his second career, though. He’s still primarily known as a former running back and sports announcer. And anything else he did will be overshadowed by his murder trial and his robbery conviction and imprisonment. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/62 "2012-11-21T05:14:26Z")
[J. Jonah Jameson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Jonah_Jameson), noted newsman. StG ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/63 "2012-11-21T06:36:54Z")
[J. Robert Oppenheimer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer) ---
**Author:** ![Zago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecccb3/32.png) [@Zago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zago)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/64 "2012-11-21T06:50:45Z")
I am artistic but I use my middle initial not only because it flows off the pen nicely but there are at least three other people in the U.S. with my same first and last name. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/65 "2012-11-21T07:54:06Z")
R Lee Ermey? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/66 "2012-11-21T08:43:41Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Also, lots of Americans and very few women? > [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, famous people + not in entertainment + women = kind of a limited selection, sadly, regardless of how many letters they use in their name… In other cultures such as my own, one’s initials would be considered not a name but a nickname, and the initials someone is known by may be not those of their name; also, name structures or scripts from different cultures may be less likely to lead to initials (I don’t think there will be a lot of Chinese people who use their initials, given that in their own script there’s no such thing). For 8 years, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was called ZP, but those aren’t his initials: they’re the initials of the slogan his party used in the campaign in which he was elected president (_Zapatero Presidente_). Now that he’s not president any more, he’s referred to by his two lastnames or by fullname. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/67 "2012-11-21T14:41:11Z")
[S. Chandrasekhar](http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4551_1.html) was a Nobel prize winning physicist. The [wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subrahmanyan_Chandrasekhar) on him gives the S to stand for Subrahmanyan, but also notes that his given name is just Chandrasekhar. In most physics references, he is just S. Chandrasekhar. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/68 "2012-11-21T14:54:03Z")
The founder of a company I used to work for, [T. Rowe Price, Jr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rowe_Price,_Jr.). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/69 "2012-11-21T15:02:28Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > e e cummings Nitpick: “e e cummings” is the book jacket logo. His _name_ was “E. E. Cummings,” [and that’s how he himself signed his name](http://www.gvsu.edu/english/cummings/caps.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/70 "2012-11-21T15:06:12Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > [S. Chandrasekhar](http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4551_1.html) was a Nobel prize winning physicist. The [wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subrahmanyan_Chandrasekhar) on him gives the S to stand for Subrahmanyan, but also notes that his given name is just Chandrasekhar. In most physics references, he is just S. Chandrasekhar. It is very common in South Indian culture for a person to have a single given name preceded by initials. The initials are derived most often from a patronymic or a place of origin, but they are just used as initials and never expanded. Another prominent example is the former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda. His given name is “Deve Gowda,” or “Devgaur.” ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/71 "2012-11-21T15:43:09Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > I wonder then if there is a genesis for this trend? What’s the **earliest** example anyone can come up with of a figure who commonly used initials as their first/middle names? L. Greco? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/72 "2012-11-21T17:17:48Z")
I. P. Freely? ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/73 "2012-11-22T14:41:50Z")
Dr J A Rod J Lo ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/74 "2012-11-22T14:57:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Nitpick: “e e cummings” is the book jacket logo. His _name_ was “E. E. Cummings,” [and that’s how he himself signed his name](http://www.gvsu.edu/english/cummings/caps.htm). Thanks for that! I’m regularly appalled by the number of misconceptions I pick up and stick like feathers in a particularly stupid hat :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/75 "2012-11-22T15:24:00Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It is very common in South Indian culture for a person to have a single given name preceded by initials. The initials are derived most often from a patronymic or a place of origin, but they are just used as initials and never expanded. Another prominent example is the former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda. His given name is “Deve Gowda,” or “Devgaur.” Thanks for filling in that information. I kind of knew about that, but since I don’t know all of the details, I chose not to sound like an idiot explaining it incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/76 "2012-11-22T15:41:43Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It is very common in South Indian culture for a person to have a single given name preceded by initials. The initials are derived most often from a patronymic or a place of origin, but they are just used as initials and never expanded. Another prominent example is the former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda. His given name is “Deve Gowda,” or “Devgaur.” A bit of a segue… I think I’m safe in saying that cricket is popular in India, and this convention of given name preceded (or indeed succeeded) by initials is [fairly conventional there too](http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-196333,00.html). ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/77 "2012-11-23T02:11:25Z")
That’s just for the scorecards though, APE Knott isn’t rendered in speech in the same way that say, VVS Laxman, is. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/78 "2012-11-23T03:06:36Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Dr J > A Rod > J Lo But is that how those people refer to _themselves_? Those are nicknames given to them by the media. I’m sure they refer to themselves as Julius, Alex, and Jenny. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/79 "2012-11-23T03:30:58Z")
Lots of athletes. C.C. Sabathia, J.P. Arencibia, J.J. Hardy… the Blue Jays have a pitcher named J.A. Happ, who for some reason styles his name that way when written, but insists on being called “Jay Happ” when it’s spoken aloud. (His name is actually James Anthony.) I have no idea why. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648/80 "2012-11-23T04:52:06Z")
Malcolm X. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/figures-who-use-initials-as-part-of-their-names/641648.md?page=5)