So sometimes as berries, we tend to make mountains out of mole hills, so I am looking to see what everyone thinks. When are initials something to worry about? Obviously bad words, for example my friend loved [name]Aria[/name] [name]Savannah[/name]. S. Initials became an obvious no no once I pointed it out to her. But now she is worried that her new love [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Faith[/name]. S. Is out because C.F.S is a disease and her parents work in the medical field. I have told her not to worry this time. My own initials spell my nickname of my first name, [name]Kim[/name], which surprisingly caused a lot of hassle for me when I was younger. A name I would love for my first daughter would land her the initials E.Z! Not sure if that is worth giving up on [name]Eleanor[/name]!
What about you? Where do you draw the line? Would the wrong initials stop you from using a name you loved?
It really depends on how bad the initials are, really. Your friend really shouldnât worry about C.F.S., especially if itâs just her parents working in the medical field. My boyfriendâs initials are E.Z. and I chuckled about it once and that was it. My brotherâs initials spell out B.J. and I seriously didnât notice this until a couple months ago! nobody has ever mentioned it to him.
If the initials spelled out something seriously bad/embarrassing, nope I wouldnât use the name. A.S.S., B.A.D., P.I.G., S.T.D., etc. I wouldnât use. there are other names out there lol.
I think it depends on what the initials spell and how many people would recognize that it spelled something bad. I have a friend with the initials A.D.R. which meant something negative at a previous job of mine, but the general population wouldnât think that. I think thatâs true of C.F.S. as well, whereas S.T.D. would be recognized by many people. Something cute, positive or neutral wouldnât scare me off. I saw on another thread P.J.S. which isnât bad and I knew a guy in college whose initials spelled A.J.OâB. which he pointed out to me, but I think if his first name had started with a B instead of an A, heâd have been less inclined to point that out.
Someone was asking awhile ago if it would be bad that her favorite name, [name]Felicity[/name] [name]Claire[/name], would spell FCK. Thatâs a no-no, along with any slang for body parts (C.N.T, D.C.K should probably be avoided) and swear words.
I do know a boy whoâs name was [name]Andrew[/name] [name]Patrick[/name] S., but a rumor was started that his middle name was actually [name]Steven[/name], which would make his initials the dreaded A.S.S. But, you canât even really predict that happening, and it is weird to rule out all A names with a last name beginning with S.
I also know boys whoâs initials spell J.B. [name]One[/name] of them is a close friend of mine, and we call him that as an inside joke. (J.B. equals [name]Justin[/name] Bieber, for those who are uninformed.)
Another cool thing Iâve see only done once is to spell out a nickname with the initials. A friend that moved away went by [name]Aer[/name], which came from her name of [name]Allison[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] R.
But all in all, make sure the initials are safe in the regular way and monogrammed (especially if you live in the US, where that is common).
To be perfectly honest, I donât care at all about initials. So what if your initials are A.S.S, W.O.W or H.E.Y or whatever?
[name]Do[/name] you really have to tell people your middle name? No, you donât. And when you fill out papers and forms, whoâs gonna care what your initials are? I bet there are millions of people with the same initials and who ever is looking at those papers has probably seen the initials before.
[name]Long[/name] story short, initials wouldnât stop me from using any name.
The initials E.Z. for a girl can be very different than they are for a boy. Peer pressure is getting to the younger and younger ages and kids can be cruel. I would avoid this disaster for your daughter.
I agree with PPs that it kinda depends on the initials. Iâd steer clear of âbadâ words and anything that would really invite teasing (PMS, STD, things like that). But initials are always going to be something (a disease, a company, etc). My initials are JAP and I didnât know until middle school that they were âbadâ. My advice is put yourself in your 12 year old shoes and think about whether or not youâd know what it stood for, or if itâs something you or other kids would make fun of. Kids probably wonât tease for something like CFS, but they would for PMS, for example.
I actually went to a university where your initials became your email address (eg, ass123@university.edu). For students with bad initials, this would only be embarrassing for a little while, as long as they were in school. For the faculty and staff, however, this was their PERMANENT, professional email address, and in one department alone there was a P.M.S., G.A.S., and A.R.S. (< looks like âarseâ). I found it highly unfortunate, as they were actually very professional and polite people.
EDIT: I should add that my initials are not A.S.S. and the above email address is a made-up example.
For me itâs anything I wouldnât feel comfortable having on myself. Iâd also feel awful if my child was teased and I personally knew that his or her initials spelled that, but ignored it. It would be another if it was an accident and and after thought or someone pointed it out later on after they were named, but if I personally realized and knew, I couldnât bring myself to use itâŚ
So more itâs anything that spells out an inappropriate word like @.$.$ OR anything that could lead to teasing like B.O.O.B., E.Z., S.T.D., P.M.S., or B.J
My husband has the initials B.J.S. and was never teased, however, he wouldnât feel comfortable using them on a child at all.
A lot of thoughtful responses here, and brought up a lot of good points I hadnât considered so far!!! Especially university e-mail addresses!! Mine is first initial, then last name, @whatever.ca, I hadnât realized some would use just full initials, that could be embarrassing.
Still torn about E.Z and whether or not itâs live-able or a terrible idea, just picturing having those initials in middle school, it could either go really well, or really awful.
E.Z is only a problem if youâre in [name]America[/name] and pronounce Z as âzeeâ so itâs âee zeeâ like easy. In the UK it would be read as âee zedâ and not sound like anything at all.
The letter Z is pronounced as âzedâ in the UK? Thatâs fascinating. Iâve been around many British people and I had no knowledge of this little tidbit. Is it pronounced similar to âsaidâ or more like âseedâ?
As previous posters have said, I would only worry about it if it is something really obviousâŚI had to look up CFS to figure out what you were talking about, and I work in the medical field. You can make something bad out of almost any initials. According to acronymfinder.com, my initials can mean Juvenile [name]Huntington[/name]'s Disease. I wouldnât even worry about EZâŚI assume she would have a first, middle, and last name, so EZ would only be part of her initials. Also, easy can have a negative connotation, but the word is not universally bad like S.T.D or A.S.S. Anyways, kids will find something to tease each other for no matter what.
In [name]Canada[/name], where I am, itâs also pronounced [name]Zed[/name], like said, so you are all probably right. I pronounce it [name]Zee[/name] or [name]Zed[/name] though, because I had an american speak and spell which said [name]Zee[/name] when I was a child haha.
What about L.E.Z? For a girl for initials, [name]Just[/name] realized one of my new favorite combos spells that out⌠I personally donât think itâs offensive to be a Lesbian or [name]Gay[/name] or anything other than straight, be whatever you want, and what not. But I think, if society doesnât evolve as a whole, L.E.Z could be some major teasing potential for a teen girl, straight or otherwise. Maybe throwing in a second middle would fix that.
@janis â Thanks so much for weighing in on C.F.S, I really do not want my friend throwing away the name she loves over such a small worry that isnât either a) offensive, or b) as youâve shown, very well known!
