Initial nicknames

What is your take on using a first and middle initial for a nn? So [name]Patrick[/name] [name]James[/name] would be PJ, [name]Charles[/name] [name]John[/name] CJ and so on. (These are random examples not considerations).

Some days I think it’s adorable and other days I feel it’s a little downmarket…thoughts?

Personally I don’t envisage me ever choosing to use initials but if others want to use them that’s cool.

I do have a cousin who was given his fathers full name [name]Mark[/name] [name]James[/name] and to avoid confusion we call him MJ and his Dad [name]Mark[/name]. In circumstances like that I understand it.

My half sister has a brother who is [name]Phillip[/name] [name]Jr[/name] and goes by PJ. And there’s a boy in my grade named [name]Gerald[/name] S, who goes by J.C. since that’s the sounds that his names start with. There’s also an [name]Adrian[/name] [name]Joseph[/name] who is AJ. But that’s because he despises [name]Adrian[/name].
I share the like/dislike relationship with initials.

Meh. I know enough _Js to make it seem like an all-American type naming tradition, but I don’t like it. If I go to all that work to come up with at least two (I say at least, because I fully plan on giving all my children two MNs) names I really love, I’m going to want to call my child by at least one of them. I even like EJ and MJ. But [name]Everett[/name] [name]Joshua[/name] [name]Charles[/name] is on my list, and the chance of me ever calling him EJ is pretty much zero. EJ is cute, but does it compare to [name]Everett[/name]? Or [name]Joshua[/name]? Not in the slightest. [name]Everett[/name] [name]Joshua[/name], to me, is way too gorgeous and handsome to just forget those 11 other letters and just call him by his initials. If I wanted him to go by his initials (or something equally boring), I would have just named him E.J. To me, it feels very unoriginal. Initials aren’t really a name, they’re initials. They’re a placeholder. I wouldn’t want to call my child a placeholder.

However, I would consider using initials that actually sound like a nn, like something like [name]Eleni[/name] [name]Violet[/name] “[name]Evie[/name]” or [name]Rachel[/name] [name]Evangeline[/name] “[name]Ari[/name]”, but honestly, I like [name]Eva[/name] and [name]Arianne[/name] much better than I like the full combos [name]Eleni[/name] [name]Violet[/name] and [name]Rachel[/name] [name]Evangeline[/name], so I doubt I would even do that. The idea of initials nns don’t really appeal to me, but I think they’re fine for someone else, and they definitely work for someone else.

“… to me, is way too gorgeous and handsome to just forget those 11 other letters and just call him by his initials. If I wanted him to go by his initials (or something equally boring), I would have just named him E.J. To me, it feels very unoriginal. Initials aren’t really a name, they’re initials.”

Awesome point [name]Ash[/name], thank you for that. I have been swayed and now have an official stance on the topic :slight_smile:

My name is [name]Kimberly[/name], my Initials spell [name]KIM[/name]. I go by [name]Kim[/name] 99% of the time, some days I think it’s awesome, some days, it’s a bit silly. Lots of people think it’s cool though.

I do recall getting in trouble from teachers when asked to initials things, and obviously using my initials, and being made to look and feel dumb for a moment when the teacher was “I said Initial, not sign your name”, which was pretty hurtful to a 5-10 year old :frowning: I generally was able to clear it up pretty quickly with them though, but all the same.

I don’t like it for the most part. Especially the _J’s…PJ, CJ, etc make me cringe for some reason. I agree with the others, who say that it seems almost a waste to use just those two letters, when you go thru the whole process of picking an actual name for a child.

I like initials. I’d like to have a son called AJ. Now, I’d never name him AJ - I am not fond of nicknames as full names - and I actually am quite fond of [name]August[/name] or [name]Aidan[/name] as names, but [name]Gus[/name] doesn’t do anything for me, and what is there to call an [name]Aidan[/name]? Half the ones I know (out here where initial nicknames are much, much more uncommon than in the US) go by Aids… how attractive…?

Why is [name]Gus[/name] more dignified than AJ? It’s not. AJ as a nickname is fine by me.

I actually think its considerably less boring than only sticking to FNs that have easy and attractive nickname options. I would think that it could open up a palette of names that would otherwise feel inflexible or “too much.”

I like AJ, JJ, TJ, and JD. For some reason, i’m not a fan of most other combinations.

I know a guy who goes by BJ, but that is because his FN is [name]Beverley[/name] which I think is a family name.
He is always BJ, the only people who know his 1st name are family and VERY close friends. I only know it because someone told me.

I realize this is in the boys’ thread, but I was playing around with some of my favorite girls’ names and I realized I was arranging the MN so that the initials spelled out a cute NN. I don’t mind it. I think it’s cute.

My friend has a nephew named CJ which stands for [name]Casey[/name]-[name]Junior[/name]. I like it but would have preferred that it stood for [name]Christopher[/name] [name]John[/name] or something.

I don’t feel strongly about it one way or the other. Whatever works for people I guess.

Well, since you asked-- I think it’s downmarket. Harmless and unobjectionable but downmarket.