32 Comments
User's avatar
Thomas Paciello's avatar

Supposedly the "S" in Harry S Truman is not an initial and is simply "S" as in his middle name is S

Stephen's avatar

I’ve noticed the same inconsistency with the two middle names for George Herbert Walker Bush. HW, H.W., H. W., might’ve even seen a H W

Clint Wrede's avatar

If Inconspicuous Consumption were just matters of journalistic style like this one, I'd totally be into it, but of course it's so much more great content.

Michael's avatar

He couldn't spell ..

Mike's avatar

My grandpa's full legal first/middle name was CB -- no actual names, and no periods. He passed before I was born, but the story he gladly told anybody who asked was that he grew up dirt poor, and not only could his parents not afford to give him an actual name, they couldn't even afford the periods.

Sports Branding's avatar

"J.D. Salinger" Jerome David Salinger was an American author best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger published several short stories in Story magazine in 1940, before serving in World War II.

What drives anyone to abbreviate their name in the first place.

Jerome Saligner. Jerry Saligner. Why J.D.?

Daren Landers's avatar

Since we put a space between James and David, wouldn't it be logical (& consistent) to put a space between J. & D. ( or J & D), regardless of how it looks in print?

Paulie's avatar

Kind of sort of relevant - I use Paul R Disney or Paul R Disney, III with no period after the R, just because!

R.L. Bynum's avatar

As somebody who goes by intials, I'm partial to periods!

Fred Mariash's avatar

Sorry but I prefer it with the periods and the space. They stand for 2 different words. And if they break into 2 lines, then so be it.

JohnMark Fisher's avatar

Interesting his Wiki URL includes the spaces as underscores: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Vance

Maybe this was part of the Wiki name change discussion (I didn't click), but presumably they'd have to redirect to a new URL /wiki/JD_Vance

Dave Richards's avatar

Sorry, but this is very simple. The man’s name is JD. Hypothetically, if he changes it to J.D. tomorrow, then it will be J.D.

Put another way, Paul’s name is Paul, even if someone prefers to call him Joe. As long as he's an adult and not trying to commit fraud, he gets to choose his name.

Gaylord Fields's avatar

Only medium OT but, similar to today's subject James David Vance, born James Donald Bowman, many US presidents served under names they were not born with. Off the top of my head I can recall Ulysses S Grant (né Hiram Ulysses Grant), Dwight David Eisenhower (David Dwight Eisenhower), Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (Leslie Lynch King Jr.) and William Jefferson Clinton (William Jefferson Blythe III).

James L. Gilbert's avatar

I forget which style guide it is (UK maybe), but the insistence to style it 'Nasa' infuriates me.

James L. Gilbert's avatar

I'm reminded of the grocery store chain that changed its name, so in order to save costs it went from Food Town to Food Lion. Only two letters difference.

Max F's avatar

How about J.D. Martinez?

Wikipedia: periods + space

ESPN, BRef, MLB, NOBs: periods, no space

His Twitter: periods, no space

His Instagram: no periods

Apparently J.D. Martinez doesn’t care so much…