# Someone explain some names that are displayed like "L. John Smith" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329 "2008-02-27T02:28:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bobalude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bobalude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobalude)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/1 "2008-02-27T02:28:25Z")
Always been curious about the way I see some names listed on checks and the such in the format [Initial] [Given Name] [Surname] i.e. “L. John Smith” Can someone explain what exactly this name formatting means? Is that the equivalent of “John L Smith”? Or is the L. shorthand for a given first name like “Larry”, but the person prefers to be called by the 2nd given name or a middle name such as “John”? I don’t see it that often with the younger adult crowd, but do see it on personal checks for older adults. Was this a norm from a certain generation cohort or time period? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/2 "2008-02-27T02:36:14Z")
J Edgar Hoover L Patrick Gray W Mark Felt E Howard Hunt … hmmmm. > [@](#): > > Is that the equivalent of “John L Smith”? Or is the L. shorthand for a given first name like “Larry”, but the person prefers to be called by the 2nd given name or a middle name such as “John”? The latter is most likely the case. The above bunch was actually named “John Edgar”, “Louis Patrick”, “William Mark” and “Everette Howard”. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/3 "2008-02-27T02:36:47Z")
It’s just as simple as people preferring to go by their middle name. The two main reasons they do this are 1. because they like the sound of their middle name better than the sound of their first name, and 2. because they are pretentious blowhards who want people to imagine a mahogany-paneled office filled with antique leatherbound books whenever they hear their name. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/4 "2008-02-27T02:36:50Z")
[QUOTE=Bobalude] I don’t see it that often with the younger adult crowd, but do see it on personal checks for older adults. Was this a norm from a certain generation cohort or time period? [/QUOTE] Thanks. Thanks a lot. I’m not that old. It’s the second of the alternatives that you suggested: the person is known by their middle name, and they represent their first name with an initial in formal and legal settings. My post is my cite: My mother and father disagreed over what to name me. They compromised by agreeing that my first name would be my father’s preference, but that they would call me by my Mother’s preference, which is my middle name. I have one of those “L. John” names. And I’m recently turned 40. So thanks again. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/5 "2008-02-27T02:39:55Z")
[QUOTE=Bobalude] …Or is the L. shorthand for a given first name like “Larry”, but the person prefers to be called by the 2nd given name or a middle name such as “John”? [/QUOTE] I think this is your answer. I’d say you could ask [Lafayette R. Hubbard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Ron_Hubbard), but ole Ron is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/6 "2008-02-27T03:10:42Z")
Sometimes people intensely dislike their first name, or for a variety of reasons are more commonly known by their middle name. Consider an alternative world in which Gerald Ford was never adopted. “L. Lynch King, longtime House Minority Leader who was named Vice President after Agnew’s resignation and later became the only unelected President of the U.S., detested being called by his first name ‘Leslie.’” “Noted Philanthropist Kent Bigbucks was actually P. Kent Bigbucks Jr., the only son and namesake of robber baron Phileas K. Bigbucks Sr. Called ‘Kent’ as a boy to distinguish him from his father, he continued using it throughout life to distance himself from his father’s unscrupulous business practices.” ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/7 "2008-02-27T03:18:51Z")
I would assume that the person prefers to go by his middle name. I wish my husband would use this form, actually. He goes by a diminutive of his middle name, and it has no relationship whatsoever to his first name. His mother just liked the nickname, so she used it when he was little, and it stuck. It causes no end of confusion, to the point where now, he is called by a diminutive of his first name at work, and a diminutive of his middle name by family & friends. He works for a very large company, and when he arrived at training, everything was set up…e-mail, name tags, etc. as though his first name was, well, his first name. Can’t say I blame them for the assumption! He’s a consultant, and works with different teams on different projects all the time, and doesn’t want to have to keep explaining to everyone that he goes by a different name, so he just went with it. If he “officially” would use first initial, middle name, last name, the whole confusion would never have happened. He likes the usual form, though, and he’s the one who has to deal with having two names, so whatever! ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/8 "2008-02-27T04:18:43Z")
I go by my middle name, and sign my name, and am known professionally by my first initial, middle name, and last name. I’ve never known anyone to use the “J. Edgar Hoover” style of name without the “J.” being their first initial. It’s helpful to have on things like my letterhead, ID badge, etc. for those people who bring my information up electronically, and see my first name. They’re more likely to assume there isn’t some sort of error if they see a first name that matches an initial. The most common occurence of something like this (IME, but not my case) is a Junior going by his middle name because Dad is ‘FirstName’. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/9 "2008-02-27T04:23:41Z")
The buddy I ride to work with every day doesn’t have a first name, it’s simply, for example,“J”. Not “J.”, just “J”. He goes by his “middle” name, but doesn’t technically have a first name, just a first initial. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/10 "2008-02-27T04:49:31Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] The buddy I ride to work with every day doesn’t have a first name, it’s simply, for example,“J”. Not “J.”, just “J”. He goes by his “middle” name, but doesn’t technically have a first name, just a first initial. [/QUOTE] Maybe he’s a distant relation of Harry S Truman, who had no middle name. ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/11 "2008-02-27T05:11:02Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] Maybe he’s a distant relation of Harry S Truman, who had no middle name. [/QUOTE] Or Homer J Simpson. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/12 "2008-02-27T05:21:16Z")
I often represent my name that way. I go by my middle name among associates. If I list my first name on documents, it confuses people, they think it’s someone else. If I omit the first initial, it causes offficial confusion because that’s not my “legal name.” But when people see the first initital they expect, and the middle name spelled out, it gives the slow-witted a chance to connect “L. Ron Hubbard” to “Lafayette Hubbard’s” checkbook (to use a specious example) while hinting that I like to be addressed as “Ron.” Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/13 "2008-02-27T05:22:59Z")
I stopped using my first name as soon as I could. I was stuck with it all though middle and high school because it was on my records. When I was applying to college, I managed to get my first name turned into an initial on my documents so that when I got there, nobody knew my stinking unused stupid first name. Then, after a college full of being \*\*X. Susan, \*\*I legally got rid of my atrophied and useless first name, causing my mother to be angry at me for years. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/14 "2008-02-27T05:24:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Or Homer J Simpson His middle name is “Jay.” ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/15 "2008-02-27T05:59:13Z")
I’m interested in further exposition along the line of **Argent Towers** ’ comment: > [@](#): > > because they are pretentious blowhards who want people to imagine a mahogany-paneled office filled with antique leatherbound books whenever they hear their name. Specifically, is this by design? Do Mum and Dad (in certain circles) intend for junior to become an esquire and purposefully craft a winning first initial-middle name combination? ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/16 "2008-02-27T05:59:56Z")
Since we have so many initialists in here, how does your name translate mentally and verbally? Whenever I see something like “L. Ron”, I read and think literally “L. Ron” (sounds like Elron). Do you introduce yourself as “G. Gordon” or just “Gordon”? Do your friends and family call you “J. Edgar” or “Edgar”? Are people who’ve read your name before meeting you more likely to call you “I. Lewis”? Do you use the initial when signing informally? Thanks, J. James ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/17 "2008-02-27T08:00:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Do you introduce yourself as “G. Gordon” or just “Gordon”? No, just Gordon. > [@](#): > > Do your friends and family call you “J. Edgar” or “Edgar”? Eggy. For those less familiar, Edgar. > [@](#): > > Are people who’ve read your name before meeting you more likely to call you “I. Lewis”? I can honestly say that has never happened, ever. It would be like seeing Mr. Simpson’s full name and assuming he prefers to be called “Homer J.”. While it’s not impossible that he might, it’s not a conclusion one generally jumps to without some other indication. > [@](#): > > Do you use the initial when signing informally? No. I don’t use my last name when signing informally, either. (In my case, the situation is exactly the one **Diomedes** described. Lafayette is my father’s name, and Ron’s been mine for 25 years. Trouble is, forms rarely ask which name you go by, so I’m registered as “Lafayette” all over the place. Signing “L. Ron” both allows me to use my real name and it makes it clear which Hubbard I am should someone try to look me up.) ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/18 "2008-02-27T13:19:18Z")
Although he didn’t use his first initial much, my father, Bernard Trevor [Lacha] sometimes went by B. Trevor, or most usually, simply Trevor. This was because his father was a Bernard as well, but dad wasn’t a Junior. So to differentiate between the two Bernard [Lacha] men in our small rural town, grandpa was Bernie and pop was B Trevor (or Trevor). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/19 "2008-02-27T13:55:46Z")
The main reason why you don’t see it any more is that when people choose to use their middle name, they don’t give any indication of their first initial. At work, there is a John Harrison\* and a Paul Lennon who I worked with for years before I realized their first name were Richards and George, respectively. They made no mention of their first name initial and probably only use it for signing legal documents. There was also the movie executive Y. Frank Freeman who, when his name was introduced at a party, someone said, “That’s a good question.” \*Not their real names. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329/20 "2008-02-27T14:12:49Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] It’s just as simple as people preferring to go by their middle name. The two main reasons they do this are 1. because they like the sound of their middle name better than the sound of their first name, and 2. because they are pretentious blowhards who want people to imagine a mahogany-paneled office filled with antique leatherbound books whenever they hear their name. [/QUOTE] Or 3., they’re a junior, or someone else in the family has the same first name (they’re named after someone else), and go by their middle name to avoid confusion. (Oh, and Homer didn’t know it was “Jay” until he was an adult) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-some-names-that-are-displayed-like-l-john-smith/439329.md?page=2)