# People who have dropped their first names **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658 "2014-06-12T21:53:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/1 "2014-06-12T21:53:09Z")
Because of some long-ago experimentation with the form of my own name as an author credit, I have always been fascinated by people who drop given names or reduce them to leading initials. I’ve started keeping a list of those I know and have found over the years - toss in your candidates. NOT to be included are people who adopt stage or pen names wholly unlike their birth names, people who drop, initial or modify middle or last names, or (for the most part) the vast number of British notables of the 20th century who followed the custom of using two initials for their publication names. Thus, I wouldn’t be interested in Marion Morrison (John Wayne), Willa Seibert Cather, or A.E. Housman. But Thomas Woodrow Wilson, J. Edgar Hoover, Walter Bruce Willis, John Pierpont Morgan and Edward Aleister Crowley? You bet. Gimme all you got. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/2 "2014-06-12T21:56:31Z")
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/3 "2014-06-12T22:02:11Z")
Sir James Paul McCartney ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/4 "2014-06-12T22:02:30Z")
James Paul McCartney ETA: _d’oh!_ All right, then, George Ivan (Van) Morrison. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/5 "2014-06-12T22:11:31Z")
John Michael Stipe of R.E.M. comes to mind. (As would I, if I were famous.) ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/6 "2014-06-12T22:12:31Z")
J K Rowling ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/7 "2014-06-12T22:25:46Z")
A. Philip Randolph ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/8 "2014-06-12T22:33:19Z")
C. Thomas Howell H.R. Haldeman J. Edgar Hoover ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/9 "2014-06-12T22:34:37Z")
[A. Clyde Roller](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Clyde_Roller) (aka “a Clyde roller”) ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/10 "2014-06-12T22:41:42Z")
C. Wright Mills ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/11 "2014-06-12T22:52:55Z")
Kevin James LaBrie ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/12 "2014-06-12T22:55:39Z")
Christopher Ashton Kutcher Aubrey Drake Graham, aka Drake ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/13 "2014-06-12T23:02:06Z")
Hiram Ulysses Grant ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/14 "2014-06-12T23:07:53Z")
Elizabeth Stamatina Fey, better known as Tina ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/15 "2014-06-12T23:10:08Z")
Teller. Cannot believe I’m first with this one. ETA: OK, so he dropped his entire first name. A. Whitney Brown H.L. Menchen P.J. O’Roarke ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/16 "2014-06-12T23:18:04Z")
H.R. Giger Willard Mitt Romney ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/17 "2014-06-12T23:24:19Z")
Stephen Grover Cleveland. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/18 "2014-06-12T23:28:18Z")
English bequiffed misery-guts Steven Patrick Morrissey ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/19 "2014-06-12T23:34:42Z")
Wikipedia’s article on middle names has a subsection on [Some notable anglophones known by their middle names](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_name#Some_notable_anglophones_known_by_their_middle_names) ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/20 "2014-06-12T23:35:13Z")
I know this is not quite what you asked for, but it’s so odd I just can’t resist it. English actor drops his two last given names (Hoar Stevens), then takes his second given name, appends a hyphen, then his first given name and becomes the quintessential cad… Terry-Thomas [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658.md?page=2)