I don’t know if anybody still does it or still dares to do it, but back when he was just another young writer, George’s nickname in the group was “Railroad”. (Man, that picture is something else. I thought it was John Kessel as first, not normally two people one might confuse.)
R. Buckminster Fuller 1895
J.C. Penney 1875
W.E.B. Du Bois 1868
A.E Housman 1859
P.T. Barnum 1810
W.C. Handy 1873
J. E. B. Stuart 1833
T. A. Dorgan 1877
Another summary post. Pretty much everyone suggested in this thread except a few people who aren’t notable enough to have a Wikipedia page. Plus a handful of people I thought of myself (e.g. k.d. lang).
*names where the Wikipage does not include the initial(s) in the title. Wikipedia normally uses the name that the person is most commonly known as, so perhaps these people shouldn’t be listed.
One initial names:
L. Frank Baum 1856
H. Rider Haggard 1856
W. Somerset Maugham 1874
E. Charlton Fortune 1885
A. Philip Randolph 1889
J. Paul Getty 1892
J. Edgar Hoover 1895
R. Buckminster Fuller 1895 *
F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896
T. Rowe Price 1898
A. Ross Eckler 1901
J. Robert Oppenheimer 1904
A. Audrey Bodine 1906
L. Sprague de Camp 1907
H. Allen Smith 1907
H. Chandler Elliott 1909
L. Ron Hubbard 1911
P. Schuyler Miller 1912
A. Bertram Chandler 1912
A. Clyde Roller 1914
C. Everett Koop 1916
A. Ross Eckler Jr 1927
H. Ross Perot 1930 *
G. Gordon Liddy 1930
F. Lee Bailey 1933
H. Norman Schwarzkopf 1934 *
F. Murray Abraham 1939
A. Whitney Brown 1952
S. Epatha Merkerson 1952
M. Emmet Walsh 1953
M. Night Shymalan 1970
Two-initial names:
P.T. Barnum 1810
W.S. Gilbert 1836
J.P. Morgan 1837
A.C. Swinburne 1837 *
H.H. Asquith 1852
A.E. Housman 1859
J.M. Barrie 1860
H.G. Wells 1866
W.C. Handy 1873
D.W. Griffith 1875
J.C. Penney 1875 *
T.A. Dorgan 1877 *
W.C. Fields 1880
E.M. Hull 1880 (romance writer)
P.G. Wodehouse 1881
A.A. Milne 1882
E.R. Eddison 1882
T.S. Elliot 1888
E.E. Smith 1890
H.P. Lovecraft 1890
E.E. Cummings 1894
C.W. Grafton 1909
C.L. Moore 1911
A.E. van Vogt 1912
F.L. Wallace 1915
Y.A. Tittle 1926
T.C. Boyle 1948
k.d. lang 1961
Three initial names:
J.E.B. Stuart 1833
W.E.B. Du Bois 1868
J.R.R. Tolkien 1892
S.L.A. Marshall 1900
I’ll note that no one born in the last 50 years is in any of the lists. Perhaps initials have gone out of style.
Medieval Jewish sages and rabbis were often known solely by their initials. For example, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (1040-1105) is better known by his initials R.Sh.Y, or as they’re pronounced in Hebrew, Rashi. Another more famous example is Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, or Maimonides, who is known in Hebrew as the Rambam. I don’t know if they were known by these acronyms in their own lifetimes, but their use certainly go back many centuries.
As a counternote, there are a few sports figures I can think of, off the top of my head, who go by their first+middle initials, and who were born in the last 50 years.
Baseball
- B.J. Surhoff (born 1964)
- J.T. Snow (born 1968)
- J.J. Hardy (born 1982)
Football
- J.J. Watt (born 1989)
- T.J. Watt (born 1994)
(2024-1964 = 60)
Ugh. It’s the weekend; math is harder. 
OK, all of them were born in the past 60 years.
How about RG3?
@CalMeacham, F. Scott Fitzgerald was named for Francis Scott Key because they were distant cousins. Fitzgerald’s father was born in Maryland and had family roots there; another Maryland cousin was Mary Surratt, executed for her supposed role in the Lincoln assassination plot. F. Scott Fitzgerald - Wikipedia
Two early three initial names: A. E. W. Mason , 1845
C. F. A. Voysey , 1857
And several 2 initial names:
P.G. Wodehouse, 1881
T. E. Lawrence, 1888
C.S. Lewis, 1898
E.B. White, 1899
T.H. White, 1906
Yeah, but that’s an informal nickname that’s a contraction of his full name, like “ARod.” He went by Robert Griffin III.
I thought it was Harold because that was his father’s name. You know" Our father who art in heaven Harold be thy name…
EG Marshall, completely made up (real name Everett Eugene Grunz)
PDQ Bach (aka peter schikele) composer of the “yes we have no bananas Concerto”
One that that made doing my genealogy difficult was that many of my ancestors went by their middle names and ignored their first names. The first name was often a family name that they shared with many other family members. It seemed to be a pretty frequent occurrence in the early 20th century and late 19th century. None of my ancestors were rich enough to use an initial.
First Initial Only:
B. Traven, 1882 (maybe) - B. Traven - Wikipedia
J. Arthur Rank, 1888
W. Averell Harriman, 1891
J. Fred Muggs, 1952 - J. Fred Muggs - Wikipedia
Two Initials:
B.F. Skinner, 1904
B.B. King, 1925
A.J. Foyt, 1935
The Watergate Gang:
W. Mark Felt (“Deep Throat”), 1913
L. Patrick Gray, 1916
E. Howard Hunt, 1918
G. Gordon Liddy, 1930
Some younger types use initials. I checked the Nebula Award nominations for Best Science Fiction Novel. They are a consistent presence. From the last 10 years.
S. L. Huang
R. F. Kuang, 1996
S. B. Divya
C. L. Clark
C. L. Polk, 1972
N. K. Jemisin, 1969
I also found in the Novella nominations:
R. S. A. Garcia
Interestingly, every one is a woman. I have no idea what this says about modern culture. They all have Wiki pages but only those three have birthdates listed.
First you do this
but, then this
What the hell, man?
I seem to recall that Fitzgerald was given that name because he was in some way related to F. S. Key.
I’m going by how the name appears in the title of their respective Wikipedia pages. Cummings’ Wikipedia page says:
k.d. lang’s page has her name in lower-case.
Capitalizing EE is perfectly acceptable, and may even be the preferable approach. But it’s complicated…
Historically, a number of female authors, particularly in science fiction, used their initials for their published names, due to women struggling to get respect (and even struggling to get published) in the field. I’m not sure if more modern female science-fiction writers are doing so as a nod to that tradition, or if it’s a matter of sexism still being a thing among readers.
Some earlier examples include C.L. Moore (born 1911), C.J. Cherryh (born 1942), and Star Trek screenwriter D.C. Fontana (born 1938).