# Who is the earliest person we know as Firstname - M.I. - Lastname? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 6, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200 "2024-05-06T20:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/21 "2024-05-06T21:33:04Z")
Props to the OP for a really interesting question. The answer must come down to opinion of notability, I’d think. I’ve heard of John C. Calhoun – sorry that a notorious slaver is the earliest named so far (1777). Does William L. Pierce (whom I’ve never heard of) take the prize due to being born in 1740, or is he not notable enough? It seems like “notable to whom” is highly relevant, making the answer very subjective. For that reason, and penalizing certain contestants for assholism, I think I’ll stick with Susan B. Anthony for now. Fun topic. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/22 "2024-05-06T21:35:45Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > It seems like “notable to whom” is highly relevant, making the answer very subjective. For that reason, and penalizing certain contestants for assholism, I think I’ll stick with Susan B. Anthony for now. …over James K. Polk? ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/23 "2024-05-06T21:38:31Z")
Weeeellll… since it really is subjective, I don’t think of the 11th president by that form of his name, myself. Though he himself is possibly more well known than Susan B. Anthony? Not sure of that either. It’s really an impossible question, food for thought. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/24 "2024-05-06T21:45:41Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > I don’t think of the 11th president by that form of his name, myself I do. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/H9SvJMZs5Rs/hqdefault.jpg "They Might Be Giants - James K. Polk") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9SvJMZs5Rs) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/25 "2024-05-06T21:48:49Z")
I’ve climbed out of the rabbit hole of Middle Initials. Y’all carry on. Very fun thread. ---
**Author:** ![GrunthosTheFlatulent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grunthostheflatulent/32/21319_2.png) [@GrunthosTheFlatulent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrunthosTheFlatulent)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/26 "2024-05-06T21:49:40Z")
Jesus H. Christ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/27 "2024-05-06T21:59:41Z")
Always fun when people accidentally reveal that they didn’t read the op. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/28 "2024-05-06T22:02:42Z")
Alexander T. Great? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/29 "2024-05-06T22:05:33Z")
Okay but here’s the question. Were these notable people so identified posthumously by their middle initials or did they go by that at the time? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/30 "2024-05-06T22:12:03Z")
Lord Byron was George Gordon Byron. (b.17??) So there were some middle names. (ETA 1788) ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/31 "2024-05-06T22:20:56Z")
As for the signers of the Dec of Ind, it is not enough that they signed that way, we have to call them that way when we speak or write of them. I wish Vlad T. Impaler was legit. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/32 "2024-05-06T22:47:19Z")
Roger B. Taney (b. 1777) is probably the best answer so far, and I can’t beat it. Some other early adopters who haven’t been mentioned yet include: Stephen F. Austin b. 1793 Matthew C. Perry b. 1794 William H. Seward b. 1801 John Quincy Adams (1767) is sometimes but not usually called John Q. Adams John James Audubon (1785) is sometimes but not usually called John J. Audubon. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/33 "2024-05-06T23:53:48Z")
Did any of the numerous initialed Bach family of composers use the FN MI LN format? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/34 "2024-05-07T00:18:43Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Lord Byron was George Gordon Byron. (b.17??) > > So there were some middle names. Sorta. As far as I can make out, the future poet was christened George Gordon, with the surname Byron, which was also the style of the hereditary barony that he inherited at the age of ten from a great-uncle. But the “Gordon” was his mother’s maiden name, which his father later adopted as a surname as a condition of inheritance rights, so AIUI the poet sometimes called himself “George Byron Gordon”, or just treated “Gordon” as his surname and “Byron” as the name of his baron’s title. So, it’s complicated. Many people definitely did have multiple baptismal names at that time, but sometimes they treated them as a kind of nomenclatural menu selection from which they could customize the name they preferred, rather than as a predetermined official label. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/35 "2024-05-07T00:23:51Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Did any of the numerous initialed Bach family of composers use the FN MI LN format? Nopes, AFAIK. Bach himself drew up a whole genealogical list (facsimiles [here](https://archive.org/details/originoffamilyof00bach/page/n25/mode/2up)), completed by his son CPEB, and there’s no such thing as a middle initial in it (though a leading “Johannes” is sometimes abbreviated “Joh.”). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/36 "2024-05-07T10:26:43Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Nopes, AFAIK. Bach himself drew up a whole genealogical list (facsimiles [here](https://archive.org/details/originoffamilyof00bach/page/n25/mode/2up)), completed by his son CPEB, and there’s no such thing as a middle initial in it (though a leading “Johannes” is sometimes abbreviated “Joh.”). Middle initials have never been a custom in Germany, the only person I know who uses one is the TV host and presenter Johannes B. Kerner. In his case, the B stands for Baptist, so not even for a name, but a designation for which saint Kerner was baptized after. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/37 "2024-05-07T11:26:59Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Yeah, other Anglophone countries seem to regard the “Firstname I. Lastname” style as primarily a US custom. Hence all the non-American novels/plays/etc. featuring a stereotypical American character with a Groucho-esque name like “Hiram Z. Picklefeather.” ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/38 "2024-05-07T11:41:39Z")
Jesus H. Christ? 😈 Okay, that was in poor taste. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/39 "2024-05-07T12:03:38Z")
From the OP: > [@mixdenny](#): > > I won’t accept Jesus H. Christ. > [@GrunthosTheFlatulent](#): > > Jesus H. Christ > [@Jasmine](#): > > Jesus H. Christ? 😈 So, is the answer Roger B. Taney? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200/40 "2024-05-07T12:32:24Z")
It’s like a classroom. Once Grunthos “acted out”, I was influenced by his negative leadership. 😇 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-person-we-know-as-firstname-m-i-lastname/1001200.md?page=3)