# What's up with contemporary people using "V" for "U" - Is it a sovcit / freeman on the land thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 20, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778 "2022-05-20T18:13:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [May 20, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/1 "2022-05-20T18:13:01Z")
I just came across someone who uses “V” in place of “U” in his name and in a lot of other things. I was wondering what this was about. I noticed that he also often wrote his name in SovCit style: _GivenName_ **-** _SecondGivenName_ **:** _FamilyName_. He also wrote his name “Hubbard” as “Hvbbard.” Is this someone anyone has come across? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/2 "2022-05-20T18:21:31Z")
I have not seen this, other than some (relatively modern) buildings on which inscriptions substituted a “V” for a “U” (as in “VNITED STATES POST OFFICE”). As there was no “U” in Latin, the letter “V” was used for both the functions of “V” and “U.” My guess would be that said individual is trying to be “old school,” or sees some significance (or sovcit magic) in using only Latin letters. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/3 "2022-05-20T18:22:22Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As there was no “U” in Latin, the letter “V” was used for both the functions of “V” and “U.” Yes, that’s why I specified “contemporary” usage. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/4 "2022-05-20T18:30:08Z")
Doing a little online searching I found this can be associated with a genre of music known as “witch house”. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/5 "2022-05-20T18:35:36Z")
Do you have any examples handy? I’m not seeing it in my googlage. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/6 "2022-05-20T18:40:22Z")
[ ### Benjamin-Jaymz: Hvbbard - Phi-Tek [http://www.phi-tek.com](http://www.phi-tek.com) › About Phy-Tek ]([Benjamin-Jaymz: Hvbbard | PHY-TEK](http://www.phi-tek.com/about-us/benjamin-jaymz-hubbard/)) _Benjamin_ Hvbbard is the founder, chief engineer, designer and creative visionary at PHY-TEK. His research focuses on kystalline scalar wave technology. He doesn’t do it on the actual text of the website. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/7 "2022-05-20T18:46:50Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > _Benjamin_ Hvbbard is the founder, chief engineer, designer and creative visionary at PHY-TEK. His research focuses on kystalline scalar wave technology. Interesting – when I follow the second link (using Chrome, on a Mac), the below is what I see: > [@](#): > > Benjamin-Jaymz Hu’bbard is the founder and the chief researcher, engineer, designer and creative visionary at Phi-Tek, LLC. No V in place of U in his name, but there is that extraneous apostrophe. The URL for the page with his biography has a U, not a V, but the title tag (what shows up in my browser tabs) has a V. So, he seems to not be consistent. But, given that he also spells “crystalline” with a K, and seems to randomly choose to capitalize letters, I think he just may like idiosyncratic spelling. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/8 "2022-05-20T19:07:16Z")
It’s quite old. There was whole show about ancient Rome called I, CLAVDIVS. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/9 "2022-05-20T19:52:45Z")
I know the band Chvrches spells it that way so it can be found more easily in web searches. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/10 "2022-05-20T20:18:43Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s quite old. There was whole show about ancient Rome called I, CLAVDIVS. The show and the book were called _I, Claudius_. _I CLAVIDIVS_ was merely the stylization of the logo. And that’s not the same thing at all. It was stylized that way because it was a story about a Roman emperor. It wasn’t contemporary person. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/11 "2022-05-20T21:39:45Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > (or sovcit magic) I read the OP before there were any replies, and I don’t have a factual answer. This is the first thing that came to my mind. Then I thought, ‘If the magic doesn’t work, try tweaking the spell.’ ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/12 "2022-05-21T01:18:04Z")
My best guess is that he is obfuscating his name to confuse web crawlers. ETA: He is evidently based out of Pahoa , Havvai’i ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/13 "2022-05-21T12:32:58Z")
Another who does this is the sex cult [NXIVM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NXIVM) (pronounced “neks-see-um”). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/14 "2022-05-21T13:42:25Z")
The great, multi-style Mexican musical group Cafe Tacuba did this for just one (I think) of their albums/tours — that year (around 2000), they were “CAFE TACVBA.” Not important for this thread — but I never miss an opportunity to plug one of my favorite bands ever. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/15 "2022-05-21T13:48:02Z")
Update: Turns out they’ve always used the V, even though they are rarely referred to that way. Per Wikipedia: “The band changed its name to Café Tacvba (changing the u for a v) in order to avoid legal issues with the coffee shop [Café Tacuba, in Mexico City].” ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/16 "2022-05-21T13:55:40Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > “The band changed its name to Café Tacvba (changing the u for a v) in order to avoid legal issues with the coffee shop [Café Tacuba, in Mexico City].” Maybe that’s what it’s all about here, too. For example, if some sovcit gets pulled-over by a cop and gets a ticket, having two spellings of the name may confuse various law enforcement systems. “Stubby McStubface? No, that’s not me, I am Stvbby McStvbface.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2022, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-contemporary-people-using-v-for-u-is-it-a-sovcit-freeman-on-the-land-thing/964778/17 "2022-05-21T17:38:28Z")
Running a sex cult is one thing, but no one wants to mess with [Big Pharma.](https://www.target.com/p/nexium-24hr-delayed-release-heartburn-relief-capsules-with-esomeprazole-magnesium-acid-reducer-14ct/-/A-15087727?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tmnv&DFA=71700000093123152&CPNG=PLA_DVM%2Ba064R000012KuUSQA0-a064R000012KuUSQA0-PGSK_Nexium_Google+Search_Q1_2022-643348&adgroup=PLA_PGSK_Nexium&LID=700000001393753pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9022877&gclid=Cj0KCQjwm6KUBhC3ARIsACIwxBjjFvC5SGEV4xlB9gYryJOoFZPZWgrR_XEQqE2sst524fSl3ir0qR0aApv_EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)