What a lively excursion through literary and sporting initials. One for your collection: the great memoirist and food writer Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, who made her name as M.F.K. Fisher. Among her many quotable lines: "The purpose of living is to get old enough to have something to say."
In writing terms, yes, I'm just getting started. I think the idea of "having something to say" is an interesting one. I think it was Charles Lamb who after decades of drudgery at the East India Company, was worried that after retiring from it that he'd find himself with more time to write but nothing to write about. When I retired from public service 2 years ago, I felt the same way.
Anyway, I hope we'll both be writing away for years to come, Rona!
The use of initials is a nightmare for copyeditors. Some publishers (for consistency) required that all the names in the Bibliography be changed to initials if one of the authors listed had initials. If a mixture of initials and full names was allowed, then figuring out how to list these alphabetically (by initials or full name) had to be resolved and often the full names had to be looked up. In the text, you had to confirm that the gender of the person with only initials was correct (more things to look up). If the initials were in lower case, it was very challenging because someone in the publishing process would think it was a mistake and make them upper case. And what do you do about the rule that says that full names should be given the first time a name is mentioned? Does T. S. Eliot count as a full name?
Thank you for sharing that - I didn't know. I always think that the distance between TS and Tom Eliot is a huge one, very much as if they were two different people.
Eliot’s friends called him Tom. One of my father’s professorial colleagues was a friend of Eliot’s, and whenever the latter was planning to visit NY my dad’s colleague would say, “Tom is coming to town.”
Thanks for this wonderful follow up! And the shout out. There’s a great range of references here— from all fields.
I love that the authors using initials span all genres, from TS Eliot to VC Andrews (my closest referent). Do you think using initials is also about maintaining some privacy (not just in terms of gender)? Fascinating—
Thanks for inspiring the reflection and the post, VC! I think you may be right, there's perhaps an element of seeking privacy behind initials, for some at least.
Perhaps for some, it was to make life easier for their readers situated all over the place, globally. V.S. Naipaul would certainly be easier than Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul.
My birth name is Krista Lynn McDowell and I loved that my initials were KLM - very obediently right in an alphabetical row and just like the airline. When I got married, I decided that I wanted to keep my maiden name, since my father didn’t have any sons, and officially changed it to Kristalynn McDowell Jackson - KMJ. Since Kristalynn rarely fits on anything, and I have gone by Kris since college, I have signed things KM Jackson for 21 years. That’s my official bank signature, and good for all documents, though I have had people fight me about it. It’s literally on my license as my signature, and I use it when I notarize documents as well. My photography business is KMJ Photography, so yes, you could say I have thing for initials!!
VC Andrews was the first author that came to mind. I have covid right now and for a minute I could not remember what the WA before Mozart stood for! It took me about 5 minutes… because at the very least I knew it wasn’t William Amadeus Mozart! 😂
Thank you for such a delightful comment, Kris. The story of your names and initals is a lovely one - thank you for sharing it. I also use JP as the basis of my official signature. No one ever challenged me on the use of the intials, only on the fact that the scrawl I produced was a little hard to replicate accurately for a while, until I refined it.
When I was growing up, there was a local children’s tv show called “J.P. Patches.” JP was a clown with a friend-clown named Gertrude - played by a man. Since my dad’s initials were JP and it was the 70s, when dad wore a certain shabby denim jacket with colorful patches sewn on, he called himself JP Patches. Now there was a memory utterly forgotten until now. ☺️ Thank you, JP. Perfectly nice initials, I’d say!
How lovely! I'm glad that the post, and my initials, brought back a good memory for you, Tara! I also find that the more I explore my past, the memories just loom up out of nowhere.
Intriguing! I never really thought about it. I knew women used to use initials to hide their gender, which wouldn’t have worked if men weren’t doing it too. Back in the 90s I used to sign my emails KD, and people would refer to me by that on the particular project I was on for three years. There were people there that thought my name was Katie and really didn’t know it was Karen. I never thought of going by KE Davis. I don’t think I really like it.
I too thought of the initials style when I first began writing. Then fate decided it for me by someone else with my name publishing poetry in a journal that I was also hoping to publish in--it led to some very confusing and disappointing congratulations. :) When I chose my pen name, which at first I was annoyed by, it became a source of freedom I didn't expect. I never liked my given name and it is always misprounounced. Choosing my own name was really liberating as a writer. Names do have power--it's so interesting how the play and shape our experiences, love that you've been thinking through this as well.
Thank you for sharing, Freya! It's great that choosing your pen name worked out, but I can imagine the frustration of finding someone else with your name publishing in that journal.
It was definitely a bummer--but I grew to really be grateful for it--especially because it allowed me to choose names that I loved for different reasons, as well as a claim to a different type of identity as a writer than what I have experienced in my career under my given name (which is half my mother's choosing, half my father's family name--which is another problematic part of names for women, and the false sense of 'tradition' of taking on a man's name, whether a father's or a spouses, etc. When even a woman 'keeping' her name upon marriage is still her father's family's name in most instances...).
I completely agree--I wish people could choose their own names--and learn something from the trans community about claiming an identity for ourselves. We can still be grateful and honor the intentions of parents but....there is something appropriating about naming another human being, and of a desire to claim that power for ourselves, our own experiences, lives.
I thought about name changes today. And also that perhaps names take the power that we give them. If a name is simply an identifier (call me Susanna) then it will be just that.
But, if I introrduced myself saying: My name is Susanna and, where I am from it means ‘mother of dragons’. Suddenly the name has power and you silently assess whether any dragons will let me send them to fold the laundry.
When one has had a name change, because of the history and reasons for changing it, calling them by their new name is not only an identifier but also a statement of validation of their decision.
For the authors perhaps it wasn't such a big deal what their friends continued to call them (of course apart from Jeffrey whose friends mocked him for it, haha).
Tom. I wonder whether his mother ever referred to him as: my son, T.S. Elliot.
On writing a post. Hmm. I wouldn’t say never. However…
Writing a post might lead to writing of another post, and perhaps another, and before I know it, I could find myself having a publishing schedule to adhere to.
W.H. Auden, Wystan Hugh, the poet who stole my heart along with W.B. Yeats. Your essay has an open vulnerability about your so-called pretentious, youthful choices that belie the superiority of this beautifully constructed essay that reveals while it hits at the struggles of writers to reveal themselves. An essay to be read and reread, dear Jeffrey.
Thank you, Mary! You're very kind. Auden and Yeats are heart-stealing poets, aren't they? Though in the case of WH, it was the political engagement that first caught my attention as a teenager. And can I ask, does your use of an initial letter have a story behind it?
There's a whole genre of fiction that seems to require the use of initials, and I think it was originally to hide the sex of the author, as if for some reason you would be less likely to buy a historical thriller if you knew it was written by...a woman! But I absolutely love the works of SJ Parris (Stephanie Merritt, I believe), SG MacLean (Shona) and CJ Sansom (a man!).
I loved this exploration of initials. I'm trying to think of fictional characters with initials. The only one that comes quickly to mind is JK Quiggin from Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time.
And in Ulysses, I remember how Stephen says A.E.I.O.U. and is referring to a money debt to George Æ Russell––I had to look that up as the only famous A.E I knew was Houseman.
Anyway, that was a fun post to read and then think about.
Great post Jeffrey. Lots of wonderful food for thought. I wonder should I go by P.J. Leavey. Or revert back to how I sign everything Pamela L. Leavey. For someone reason when I started writing politics I left the J. off. Then at some point I added it back to my photography signature. I am truly all over the map with the initials things.
Thank you, Pamela. Or PJ, which I rather like! The use of full first name followed by the initial of one's second name is relatively rare in the UK I think.
I also got the self employed thing from my dad. I do know that the same names pop up a lot in my genealogy. My father's father was George E. There's a slew of Thomas, Patrick, Joseph. Great great grandfather was Dominic, born in 1776, had one born in 1811 named Dominic they both died on the same day. Assuming it was an accident.
It's so hard to find records in Ireland. I have located where the grave is. I need to go over there to find out more. The surname, Leavey originated in the Ulster region and comes up in the "Four Masters." I've been researching it for a long time. Not a lot to go on, but very interesting. It was MacDunleavy.
Of course there is the late JPR Williams, a fine rugby player for Wales in my youth. In writers, LP Hartley springs to mind, if only for the immortal line "The past is another country. They do things differently there."
In children's literature EE Nesbitt gave us intelligent stories mixing fantasy and fun. The Psammead was a big favourite of mine. Also as a child I loved 'BB', who wrote about The Little Grey Men', BB was the pen name of Denis Watkins Pitchford.
And HG Wells started a whole 'other worlds' thing.
Thank you for your lovely reflection, June. The LP Hartley quote is so good, isn't it? And I remember JPR Williams. I seem to remember he played alongside another Williams, JJ.
A great post, and thanks for the mention. I love your name JP Streeter - it’s definitely designed for great things! I’m VKW. That my parents met in a VW camper van is apparently a coincidence!
What a lively excursion through literary and sporting initials. One for your collection: the great memoirist and food writer Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, who made her name as M.F.K. Fisher. Among her many quotable lines: "The purpose of living is to get old enough to have something to say."
Thank you Rona and what wonderful initials. A great quote too! It encourages me to keep on living 😊
You are just getting started, Jeffrey! I will not be around to see your codgerhood, but I hope it will be full of discovery.
In writing terms, yes, I'm just getting started. I think the idea of "having something to say" is an interesting one. I think it was Charles Lamb who after decades of drudgery at the East India Company, was worried that after retiring from it that he'd find himself with more time to write but nothing to write about. When I retired from public service 2 years ago, I felt the same way.
Anyway, I hope we'll both be writing away for years to come, Rona!
Just love MFK Fisher! 💜
The use of initials is a nightmare for copyeditors. Some publishers (for consistency) required that all the names in the Bibliography be changed to initials if one of the authors listed had initials. If a mixture of initials and full names was allowed, then figuring out how to list these alphabetically (by initials or full name) had to be resolved and often the full names had to be looked up. In the text, you had to confirm that the gender of the person with only initials was correct (more things to look up). If the initials were in lower case, it was very challenging because someone in the publishing process would think it was a mistake and make them upper case. And what do you do about the rule that says that full names should be given the first time a name is mentioned? Does T. S. Eliot count as a full name?
Great points,Lynn. As a copywriter, I also have to toggle between use/non use of full stops or periods after the initial, according to house style.
T.S. Eliot is thought to have emulated the use of initials by businessmen such as his father.
Thank you for sharing that - I didn't know. I always think that the distance between TS and Tom Eliot is a huge one, very much as if they were two different people.
Eliot’s friends called him Tom. One of my father’s professorial colleagues was a friend of Eliot’s, and whenever the latter was planning to visit NY my dad’s colleague would say, “Tom is coming to town.”
That has a nice ring to it.
Funny. I feel like Ezra Pound could only be Ezra Pound but Tom for T.S. Eliot sounds too ordinary.
How about FDR? More presidential as FDR or as Franklin D. Roosevelt? OR Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
Thank you, Susanna. I thought about FDR when I was writing this. It's interesting that he went by so many different versions of his name, isn't it?
I know what you mean.
Thanks for this wonderful follow up! And the shout out. There’s a great range of references here— from all fields.
I love that the authors using initials span all genres, from TS Eliot to VC Andrews (my closest referent). Do you think using initials is also about maintaining some privacy (not just in terms of gender)? Fascinating—
Thanks for inspiring the reflection and the post, VC! I think you may be right, there's perhaps an element of seeking privacy behind initials, for some at least.
Perhaps for some, it was to make life easier for their readers situated all over the place, globally. V.S. Naipaul would certainly be easier than Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul.
A great point, Susanna! Thank you.
I do love the sense of mystery around the use of initials. Of course, you always hope that the initials hide very unusual names.
My favorite unusual name hidden behind initials is probably Auden’s: Wystan!
Yes, that's an interesting name!
My birth name is Krista Lynn McDowell and I loved that my initials were KLM - very obediently right in an alphabetical row and just like the airline. When I got married, I decided that I wanted to keep my maiden name, since my father didn’t have any sons, and officially changed it to Kristalynn McDowell Jackson - KMJ. Since Kristalynn rarely fits on anything, and I have gone by Kris since college, I have signed things KM Jackson for 21 years. That’s my official bank signature, and good for all documents, though I have had people fight me about it. It’s literally on my license as my signature, and I use it when I notarize documents as well. My photography business is KMJ Photography, so yes, you could say I have thing for initials!!
VC Andrews was the first author that came to mind. I have covid right now and for a minute I could not remember what the WA before Mozart stood for! It took me about 5 minutes… because at the very least I knew it wasn’t William Amadeus Mozart! 😂
JP Streeter sounds like a great name, by the way.
Thank you for such a delightful comment, Kris. The story of your names and initals is a lovely one - thank you for sharing it. I also use JP as the basis of my official signature. No one ever challenged me on the use of the intials, only on the fact that the scrawl I produced was a little hard to replicate accurately for a while, until I refined it.
G.D. Bless you, Kris! I hope you have a quick recovery.
Thank you!
When I was growing up, there was a local children’s tv show called “J.P. Patches.” JP was a clown with a friend-clown named Gertrude - played by a man. Since my dad’s initials were JP and it was the 70s, when dad wore a certain shabby denim jacket with colorful patches sewn on, he called himself JP Patches. Now there was a memory utterly forgotten until now. ☺️ Thank you, JP. Perfectly nice initials, I’d say!
How lovely! I'm glad that the post, and my initials, brought back a good memory for you, Tara! I also find that the more I explore my past, the memories just loom up out of nowhere.
Yes, they do!
Intriguing! I never really thought about it. I knew women used to use initials to hide their gender, which wouldn’t have worked if men weren’t doing it too. Back in the 90s I used to sign my emails KD, and people would refer to me by that on the particular project I was on for three years. There were people there that thought my name was Katie and really didn’t know it was Karen. I never thought of going by KE Davis. I don’t think I really like it.
Thank you, Karen! KD sounds good and I smiled at your saying that people thought you were Katie!
I too thought of the initials style when I first began writing. Then fate decided it for me by someone else with my name publishing poetry in a journal that I was also hoping to publish in--it led to some very confusing and disappointing congratulations. :) When I chose my pen name, which at first I was annoyed by, it became a source of freedom I didn't expect. I never liked my given name and it is always misprounounced. Choosing my own name was really liberating as a writer. Names do have power--it's so interesting how the play and shape our experiences, love that you've been thinking through this as well.
Thank you for sharing, Freya! It's great that choosing your pen name worked out, but I can imagine the frustration of finding someone else with your name publishing in that journal.
It was definitely a bummer--but I grew to really be grateful for it--especially because it allowed me to choose names that I loved for different reasons, as well as a claim to a different type of identity as a writer than what I have experienced in my career under my given name (which is half my mother's choosing, half my father's family name--which is another problematic part of names for women, and the false sense of 'tradition' of taking on a man's name, whether a father's or a spouses, etc. When even a woman 'keeping' her name upon marriage is still her father's family's name in most instances...).
You're certainly right about names having power.
And yet, the power to name remains mostly with our parents.
Maybe when some people are given the opportunity to name themselves using initials, they are happy to take some of that power back.
Thank you, Susanna. I like your point about taking back power.
I completely agree--I wish people could choose their own names--and learn something from the trans community about claiming an identity for ourselves. We can still be grateful and honor the intentions of parents but....there is something appropriating about naming another human being, and of a desire to claim that power for ourselves, our own experiences, lives.
I thought about name changes today. And also that perhaps names take the power that we give them. If a name is simply an identifier (call me Susanna) then it will be just that.
But, if I introrduced myself saying: My name is Susanna and, where I am from it means ‘mother of dragons’. Suddenly the name has power and you silently assess whether any dragons will let me send them to fold the laundry.
When one has had a name change, because of the history and reasons for changing it, calling them by their new name is not only an identifier but also a statement of validation of their decision.
For the authors perhaps it wasn't such a big deal what their friends continued to call them (of course apart from Jeffrey whose friends mocked him for it, haha).
Tom. I wonder whether his mother ever referred to him as: my son, T.S. Elliot.
Great reflections, Susanna! I'd love to read a post by you on this topic!
Thank you, Jeffrey.
On writing a post. Hmm. I wouldn’t say never. However…
Writing a post might lead to writing of another post, and perhaps another, and before I know it, I could find myself having a publishing schedule to adhere to.
This thought causes a fair bit of panic.:-)
I know what you mean. But in the end, as writers, we can choose our schedule - or not to have one. 😊
W.H. Auden, Wystan Hugh, the poet who stole my heart along with W.B. Yeats. Your essay has an open vulnerability about your so-called pretentious, youthful choices that belie the superiority of this beautifully constructed essay that reveals while it hits at the struggles of writers to reveal themselves. An essay to be read and reread, dear Jeffrey.
Thank you, Mary! You're very kind. Auden and Yeats are heart-stealing poets, aren't they? Though in the case of WH, it was the political engagement that first caught my attention as a teenager. And can I ask, does your use of an initial letter have a story behind it?
Jeffrey, love, the only initial that has a story behind is the L. Don’t ask, not telling. But I will say that it’s key to everything I write.
Wow. Seriously intriguing!
There's a whole genre of fiction that seems to require the use of initials, and I think it was originally to hide the sex of the author, as if for some reason you would be less likely to buy a historical thriller if you knew it was written by...a woman! But I absolutely love the works of SJ Parris (Stephanie Merritt, I believe), SG MacLean (Shona) and CJ Sansom (a man!).
Thanks, Sarah. That's another fascinating insight into the use of initials. It seems to be a complicated and slightly vexed topic.
Jeffrey,
I loved this exploration of initials. I'm trying to think of fictional characters with initials. The only one that comes quickly to mind is JK Quiggin from Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time.
And in Ulysses, I remember how Stephen says A.E.I.O.U. and is referring to a money debt to George Æ Russell––I had to look that up as the only famous A.E I knew was Houseman.
Anyway, that was a fun post to read and then think about.
Thanks, David. Yes, JK Quiggin, from that wonderful sequence of novels by Powell. Thank you for reminding me!
Great post Jeffrey. Lots of wonderful food for thought. I wonder should I go by P.J. Leavey. Or revert back to how I sign everything Pamela L. Leavey. For someone reason when I started writing politics I left the J. off. Then at some point I added it back to my photography signature. I am truly all over the map with the initials things.
Thank you, Pamela. Or PJ, which I rather like! The use of full first name followed by the initial of one's second name is relatively rare in the UK I think.
My father used his middle initial for some reason, I thought it was cool and followed suit. Maybe an Irish thing. He was Irish.
Ah, it could be. Perhaps someone could tell us?
I like that you copied your father's habit in that way!
I also got the self employed thing from my dad. I do know that the same names pop up a lot in my genealogy. My father's father was George E. There's a slew of Thomas, Patrick, Joseph. Great great grandfather was Dominic, born in 1776, had one born in 1811 named Dominic they both died on the same day. Assuming it was an accident.
Sounds like some sad tale tucked away in the genealogical data!
It's so hard to find records in Ireland. I have located where the grave is. I need to go over there to find out more. The surname, Leavey originated in the Ulster region and comes up in the "Four Masters." I've been researching it for a long time. Not a lot to go on, but very interesting. It was MacDunleavy.
O. Henry seems to ring well.
I agree, Sue. I wonder if the single letter O, which sounds like rather an exclamation, sets it apart?
Interesting idea. It does grab the reader, doesn't' it.
Of course there is the late JPR Williams, a fine rugby player for Wales in my youth. In writers, LP Hartley springs to mind, if only for the immortal line "The past is another country. They do things differently there."
In children's literature EE Nesbitt gave us intelligent stories mixing fantasy and fun. The Psammead was a big favourite of mine. Also as a child I loved 'BB', who wrote about The Little Grey Men', BB was the pen name of Denis Watkins Pitchford.
And HG Wells started a whole 'other worlds' thing.
Thank you for your lovely reflection, June. The LP Hartley quote is so good, isn't it? And I remember JPR Williams. I seem to remember he played alongside another Williams, JJ.
Yes, JJ. That was a fine team - Gareth Edwards, Phil Bennett...when Welsh rugby was world-beating.
A great post, and thanks for the mention. I love your name JP Streeter - it’s definitely designed for great things! I’m VKW. That my parents met in a VW camper van is apparently a coincidence!
Thank you, Victoria! VKW is impressive and the VW camper seems like a whole other story! 😊
I always associate JRR Tolkien with George RR Martin simply on the basis of their initials.
I confess I've never read anything by Martin!