# How legible is your signature? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870 "2010-10-02T21:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/1 "2010-10-02T21:52:23Z")
I had a bunch of letters that required my John Hancock and went through them right down the line. After the third or fourth one, I realized had my name not been printed below the signature line, there’s no way in hell one could figure out what I had scrawled. I use my first and middle name initials though and these I think someone could make out though. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/2 "2010-10-02T21:54:08Z")
Not even a little. It’s recognizable as mine (if you’ve seen it before), but it’s little more then a scribble. ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/3 "2010-10-02T21:59:31Z")
I think most people can figure out the first letters of my three names and make pretty good guesses about at least some of the others. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/4 "2010-10-02T22:01:29Z")
Almost completely illegible, and no 2 signatures of mine are the same. Partly due to writing fast, and partly due to not being able to hold a pen well. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/5 "2010-10-02T22:11:18Z")
The name I use for my signature has 13 letters, of which two of the three initials and one other letter are reasonably decipherable. (I don’t even bother any more to dot the i that is somewhere in there.) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/6 "2010-10-02T22:48:21Z")
My signature is a very distinctive squiggle that looks like it might start with an R (my name is Katherine)… it has a dot over it. I didn’t even bother changing my signature when I got married and changed my name–what’s the point? I even kind of say a sound in my head as I’m writing it: Kaaaahaaaahaaaaannnnnaa (which bears no resemblance to any name I’ve ever had) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/7 "2010-10-02T22:54:41Z")
My sig is really just my three initials with a scribble following. And good luck on recognizing the third one. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/8 "2010-10-02T23:08:35Z")
I tried the illegible signature route, but I find I can’t be consistent with it. (Every signature looks different.) My signature is just my normal cursive, done just a bit faster so it’s not completely legible. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/9 "2010-10-02T23:11:30Z")
Not very. You can recognize the initial letters of my first and last names but the rest is an indecipherable scribble. In my defense, my job required me to sign my name dozens of times each day so I became pretty casual about it. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/10 "2010-10-03T00:23:01Z")
Lots of luck reading mine. ---
**Author:** ![purple\_granny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@purple\_granny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purple_granny)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/11 "2010-10-03T00:32:36Z")
Mine is just like my normal handwriting–totally legible. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/12 "2010-10-03T00:48:22Z")
Mine recently got a bit more illegible on purpose. I’m planning on marrying and taking the name of a guy whose last name has two letters and three shapes in common with my current name (which is also my ex-husband’s). It’s become “scribbly” enough to look like my name-to-be, while still also being my name-that-is. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/13 "2010-10-03T00:51:40Z")
I said passable, because most of the time you can read it fairly well, but often enough I get lazy, leave out letters and it starts to look like “gigi”, which is not my name. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/14 "2010-10-03T01:11:16Z")
My signature is not remotely recognizable as any human language. It drives my mom, the banker, completely bonkers. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/15 "2010-10-03T01:52:10Z")
You might guess my middle initial wrong. (it’s “T”., looks like a “J”) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/16 "2010-10-03T02:01:27Z")
My formal signature is fairly legible. But I rarely use my formal signature, as I have to sign literally up to 100 or more documents a day. What it looks like is akin to a chicken with inky feet and feathers having a seizure on a piece of paper. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/17 "2010-10-03T02:08:04Z")
I try to keep my signature legible, for in my game it makes proving documents in court a little easier. Unfortunately, the handwriting of my notes is usually very hard to read, and often baffles even myself. A few months ago, a physician blew my mind by reading my handwiting upside down from the other side of the desk when I was having difficulty reading what I had written. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/18 "2010-10-03T02:09:39Z")
Mine is legible, especially when signing across my engineer stamp, or signing business letters. I want people to be able to read it. I also think neatness counts in my profession. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/19 "2010-10-03T02:12:49Z")
You can probably make out the first and last letters of my first name, and you could make a fair guess to the first letter of my last name, but that’s it. Of course, since my first and last names only have seven letters total, that’s not terrible from a “percentage of legible letters” standpoint, but I defy anyone who doesn’t know me to figure out my name from my signature. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870/20 "2010-10-03T02:15:00Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > The name I use for my signature has 13 letters, of which two of the three initials and one other letter are reasonably decipherable. (I don’t even bother any more to dot the i that is somewhere in there.) There are an “o” and an “m” in my name that appear in my signature as a single, more-or-less horizontal line. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-legible-is-your-signature/555870.md?page=2)