…F. Murray Abraham, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
What are their FULL first names? Why did they just take the initial?? How do their friends address them, ‘Hey, F.’???
Thanks.
In the case of W. Edwards Deming, I beleive his friends would have called him “Ed”. It is not uncommon for people to prefer their middle names to their given first names, and to use it accordingly. I once heard about 10 percent of the US population does so.
I am not sure, but off the top of my head, I recall F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first name to be Francis. He evidently preferred “Scott” to “Frank”, but more likely “Scott” or “Scotty” to “Frannie” when sorting out the packing order on the playground as a kid.
I knew a guy from Arkansas who went by “CG”. Once when I asked him why this was, he explained that if your name was “Claude Grover”, you’d call yourself “CG”, too.
In one of the above cases (Fitzgerald), it was an attempt to hide his relationship to his namesake, and so avoid the stigma of riding coattails, as I understand the story.
In other cases, it could be to distinguish generations (sons named for their fathers don’t always wish to be known as John Doe, Jr.) or to avoid using a particularly unfortunate first name.
Again, in the case of Fitzgerald, his associates called him Scott, as I understand it. Perot is well known for going by Ross.
Well, the link I provided worked for all but one:
George Gordon Liddy (WAG: generational)
Lafayette Ron Hubbard (WAG: unfortunate first name)
Henry Ross Perot (WAG: thought “Henry” was too common)
Francis Scott Fitzgerald (explained above)
IMDbprovided:
Fahrid Murray Abraham (WAG: unfortunate first name)
Oh, and I shouldn’t have said “namesake” above. Fitzgerald is Key’s namesake, not the otherway around. :rolleyes:
Just wanted to say that it is not always a case of the person, themselves, making the decision to be addressed by their middle name. Many times the parents are the one’s who start it. It’s somewhat common in my family, my grandmother, aunt, and myself, all go by our middle names, and always have, per our parents’ decision. One of my son’s also is referred to by his middle name, to avoid confusion, to some degree, as he shares his first name with his father.
My own mother, the one who decided to name me the way she did, and to raise me by my middle name, stumped me, when I decided to do the same with my son, by saying, “So, you’re going to do the same thing to him, that you’ve had to put up with your whole life?” You see, when you’re not famous, and go by your middle name, it can get rather confusing. I just cocked my head to the side, and gave her a strange look.
~V
I believe his full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.
Generally, those who initialize their first names prefer to be addressed by their middle name. It’s not that uncommon.
J. Pierpont Morgan
U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner
U.S. Sen. W. Phillip Gramm
U.S. Sen. E. Benjamin Nelson
C. Montgomery Burns
U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert
I believe his full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.
Generally, those who initialize their first names prefer to be addressed by their middle name. It’s not that uncommon.
J. Pierpont Morgan
U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner
U.S. Sen. W. Phillip Gramm
U.S. Sen. E. Benjamin Nelson
C. Montgomery Burns
U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert
J. Danforth Quayle
Clarification on F. Murray Abraham:
His given first name is Fahrid, but he actually goes by “Frank.” Actors-union rules for both SAG (screen) and Equity (stage) state that there can be no duplicate names in the union, in order to keep membership, credits, and other stuff straight.
When he was coming up, there was already somebody named “Frank Abraham” in the union. Probably also a “Frank M. Abraham.” So he had a choice of either “F. Murray” or “Fahrid.”
I can give a personal example, also. I used to hang out with G. Valmont Thomas. “Valmont” is kind of a pretentious name, but he doesn’t use it day-to-day; his first name is “Greg.” However, there were no “Greg / Gregory Thomas” slots in the union, so he had to go with “G. Valmont.”
I would wager to say, though I haven’t looked it up or anything, that “Samuel L. Jackson” comes from a similar need. (With pals, he’s simply Sam.)
I’m an example of someone who goes by his middle name. It wasn’t my decision, either. My parents started calling me by my middle name when I was very young. I know this practice started for certain by the time I was two years old, and have reason to believe that it started by the time I was eighteen months old.
My parents can no longer remember why they started referring to me by my middle name.
A practice I’ve seen among WASPs is to name the kid after someone famous, and then use the middle name as the kid’s common name. The example that comes to mind is J. Danforth Quayle, who goes by Dan, not James or Jim.
E. Digby Baltzell, the sociologist who coined the term “WASP” to refer to the sociopolitical group to which he belonged went by Digby.
My own middle name is Williams (my mother’s maiden name). I wanted to give this middle name to my son and then call him Wills, but so far Mrs. Cliffy is having none of it.
–Cliffy
Several U.S. presidents are best known by their middle names, but they didn’t use the initial of their first names along with it.
Ulysses S. Grant was originally Hiram Ulysses Grant. The change is attributed to a congressman’s error when nominating him to West Point.
Grover Cleveland was originally Stephen Grover Cleveland. God only knows why he would prefer Grover over Stephen.
Woodrow Wilson was originally Thomas Woodrow Wilson. GOK why he would prefer Woodrow over Thomas.
It’s not in the same category, but I can’t resist mentioning that Gerald Rudolph Ford wasn’t born a Gerald (or a Rudolph or a Ford). He was born Leslie Lynch King and renamed Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., after his step-father who adopted him.
I believe Wilson thought “Woodrow” sounded more scholarly.
According to the Gerald R. Ford Museum’s exhibits, Ford didn’t particularly care for his biological father. He ran into him when he was an adult and they had a brief conversation.
Kids seem to really hate parental abandonment.
At a young age I asked my parents why I was called by my middle name and they said that I was given the name John Fyodor Doe but my grandfather was called John Doe and he was still alive so, to differentiate between Does and not to have two John Does in the same close family circle, I had to use my middle name.
Don’t forget John Calvin Coolidge.
Also, Eisenhower’s name at birth was David Dwight Eisenhower. He later switched it around. So, looking at it one way, you could say he was known by his middle name.
“Stephen Cleveland” – I dunno, makes me think of “Beaver Cleaver.” Perhaps ol’ Grover didn’t like the sing-songy sound.
George Gordon Liddy was named for a close friend of his father’s, George Gordon Battle. He went by ‘Gordon’ most of the time, although as an FBI agent, he introuduced himself to Hoover as ‘George Liddy’; he detested the idea that Hoover might think he was using ‘G. Gordon Liddy’ in fawning emulation of ‘J. Edgar Hoover’.
- Rick
Now can we talk about George C. Scott, William F. Buckley & Jesus H. Christ? You’d think certain people would be sufficiently well known & wouldn’t have to call their middle initials into action.
And don’t get me started about E.E. Cummings, J.P. Morgan & K.D. Lang!
I’m just curious as to whether Surreal will ever let us know if any of this info has been helpful. 
Yes, it has been very helpful! I always get good responses here (well, at least in the ‘General Questions’ forum).
So what’s the deal with all of conservatives and using their initials?
William F. Buckley
G. Gordon Liddy
J. Edgar Hoover
J. Danforth Quayle
W. Phillip Gramm
H. Ross Perot
What gives?