Soooo…I’m due any day now but one of the names we’re considering would make his initials U.S.A. What do y’all think about this? As a grown-up, would this impact his business opportunities? [name]Do[/name] you think they’ll be a lot of picking on from kids growing up? [name]How[/name] did you react? Help please! Can’t decide if we want to go there or not! LOL thanks!
I should add as a side note that I am a U.S. Veteran and my husband currently serves, so we definitely love our country!
I doubt he’d be picked on in school, most people will have no idea what his middle name is.
It might impact business/job opprotunities, as people will assume he comes from a very patriotic family (if you’re American) and that can raise conflicts and the like.
Same with travel, if he goes to a country where [name]America[/name] isn’t really fondly thought of.
I personally would not go there.
[name]EDIT[/name]: I see you’re a veteran, and your husband is serving. I’m not surprised! Many people will make that assumption, and, unfortunately, soldiers are not always well liked, or appreciated. That can also be taken into treatment of your child.
That is actually a brilliant idea! I don’t know much about job applications but I don’t think it would affect anything, I’m not even sure many people would notice. I don’t think it would be a problem if he travelled to a country where America wasn’t well-liked because like I said they may not even notice.
[name]America[/name] is in the top 1000 for girls right now (over in the US of A, that is) but I think that USA as initials is beneficially more subtle. If you go ahead with this, have you given any thought to what names you might use? 
EDIT: I should clarify, the only time it would cause him problems is if people were to go around shouting, “HEY, HIS INITIALS ARE USA!” But I don’t think it would be an issue if someone noticed and said, “Huh, his initials are USA. Interesting.”
I disagree a little bit with east93. It may be necessary for him to write his full name out if he has an international job opportunity, but probably rare for him to have to simply put his 3 initials. If he wrote his full name out and never his initials, I doubt someone would notice USA right away–or even after a while for that matter. And if they do and then get offended by it, well, they should have known he was American from the beginning and rejected him from the start.
I do agree with east93 that in school he most likely won’t be picked on and I think kids might even think that it’s cool that his initials are USA.
I say if you love the names, stick with them and let him decide if he wants anything monogrammed.
Hey I’m a military civilian myself, so I love the idea of USA initials!
I doubt there would be many situations where the child’s initials would be an issue.
The only thing I can picture is your grown child with monogrammed towels in his bathroom one day–they might only seem appropriate for the 4th of [name]July[/name]/Memorial/Labor/Veteran’s [name]Day[/name]!
[name]Cris[/name]
"[name]EDIT[/name]: I should clarify, the only time it would cause him problems is if people were to go around shouting, “HEY, HIS INITIALS ARE USA!”
I agree with amberdaydream!
As a European I find it pretty weird. But we usually don’t get the American patriotism I think. So yeah, I don’t really like the idea.
NoOOOOOOOooOoooOOoOOOOo
I agree too. I’ve never understood the angst over initials unless they spell something horribly crass or offensive.
First, it’s not like you planned USA for his initials to be “cool.” It happened to fall into place, and happens to fit your family and background which could make for a neat story from time to time, but they are just initials and they really aren’t a big deal unless you make them a big deal. There are tons of interesting/odd initial combos. I have a sib whose married initials spell “EAT.” So does her daughter’s. Yep, TWO people in the family have the initials EAT. Guess how many people notice and comment? 0. [name]Even[/name] some family members have yet to put it together. Furthemore, even monogrammed situations don’t apply as a traditional monogram would put the last initial in the middle. Maybe when he’s signing his mortgage one day (initialing all those pages), it’ll make for an interesting piece of trivia, but really… it will almost never come up.
If someone from overseas wants to discriminate because they don’t like the U.S. or don’t like soldiers, well, why would you want to associate with them anyway? And initials or no initials, you’re a Veteran and come from a family with military history… nothing’s going to change that and if people don’t like, it’s their problem/stereotype.
I think it’s fine. I rarely give my full initials to people. I’m curious what first name you are considering though because U is such a rare first name letter. Would you mind sharing it?
If anything I think its pretty cool. But honestly, i doubt it will ever really be an issue. My sons initials are MLB! (major League baseball) Sure we like baseball as much as the next guy, but thats not WHY he has those initials. it just so happens it turned out that way, and people think its cool when it comes up. USA is arguably cooler! I say if you are set on the names, then this would be no reason to change them.
I can only think of two boy’s “U” names I like. I think really odd U names are likely to be more of a gradeschool teasing issue than the initials themselves.
As a military person, does it bother you that the initials most people will know of his make him an Unauthorized Absence? 
Quite frankly, I think having USA as your initials is something very few people will ever notice or care about. Unless the initials spell a crude word, it’s a silly thing to worry about. If your son visits a country that isn’t friendly to [name]America[/name], a) why is he there in the first place?, b) people are far more likely to notice the UNITED STATES printed on his passport as his home country, and c) the other country can just get over it.
i think it’s tacky
Thanks everyone for the input! He’s not here yet but this definitely helped me feel better if we went with a “U” first name. Though I’m afraid if we did go with it I might end up going all red, white, and blue in his nursery and maybe even beyond! lol For those who asked, there’s a couple “U” names: [name]Uri[/name], [name]Uriah[/name], and [name]Uzziah[/name]. Guess we’ll have to see when he’s born if those match him or not!
For stripedsocks, I didn’t think of that one, but better than the more recognizable initials of AWOL…! 
For the historical perspective, [name]Ulysses[/name] S. [name]Grant[/name], put S. as his middle initial because he did not want to use his real initials (HUG-- [name]Hiram[/name] [name]Ulysses[/name] [name]Grant[/name]). While some people thought the S was for [name]Simpson[/name], his mother’s maiden name, it wasn’t really because the middle initial was just made up. In any case, what about going with US and not necessarily USA? You could use [name]Ulysses[/name] [name]Samuel[/name] or something similar.
I agree completely with this. If he ever goes to a country where [name]America[/name] generally isn’t looked upon fondly then I’m sure that his citizenship/passport will be a much bigger issue than the initials of his name, and I don’t see the point of going out of your way to accomodate other people’s bigotry. Could it be perceived as jingoistic and cheesy? Yes. Should you avoid it because other people don’t like [name]America[/name]? Not in my opinion, no. The kid will be American anyway, so why does that matter?
I do think that it’s slightly cheesy, but it certainly isn’t the worst reason ever for a name, and I doubt that it will come up enough for it to be an issue for him.
Have you considered [name]Ulysses[/name] as the first name? I’m fond of that one (although it may seem a bit over the top to some people), and it has the added benefit of being an ex-president.
A somewhat subtler way to honor your patriotism in your child’s name, if you wanted, would be to use something that has a similar etymology to [name]America[/name]. [name]America[/name], of course, is derived from the first name of Italian cartographer [name]Amerigo[/name] Vespucci, and [name]Amerigo[/name] is an Italian version of [name]Emmerich[/name] or Emeric. I believe that [name]Emery[/name], [name]Emmett[/name], and [name]Henry[/name] all have similar backgrounds, so any of those would work as more subtle patriotic choices.
More on that:
I love it. I am very patriotic, so that has a lot to do with it. Personally, all these people saying don’t do it because some countries don’t like [name]America[/name] would make me want to do it even more. I wouldn’t go out of my way to choose names that spell USA, but if the names you are considering spell it, I think it is very cool I think it would be silly to not do it because some people don’t like [name]America[/name], for some reason this makes me a little angry 
I think it is far from tacky. If you love the name, go for it. [name]Don[/name]'t look back.