Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 01:39:00 on Wed, 6 Jan 2021,
Certes remarked:
On 05/01/2021 22:28, Sam Wilson wrote:
Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 05/01/2021 15:00, Sam Wilson wrote:
NY wrote:

Why *do* Americans insist on using their middle initials/names on official
documentation? Does "John H Smith" sound more impressive than
"John Smith"?

Apparently it does. Harry S Truman was given his middle initial in order
to suggest a middle name that he didn’t actually have.


Leading to this endless debate, which helps to keep Wikipedia editors
and such like from wandering the streets:

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/educat...riod-after-s-t
ruman-name

:-)
Sam

Perhaps both are correct. The full name is Harry S Truman. Like all
names, the middle one can be abbreviated to its initial plus a dot:
Harry S. Truman.

A colleague back in the day, who didn't have a middle name, filled in an
order form for business cards, and duly got back a few boxes of:

Fred N.A. Blogs

:-)

On of the UoEd’s schools used to use login names based on initials but they
were at least 3 characters long. People without a middle name got an “x”
inserted, so S.... W.... (not me) was “sxw”. It looked odd when you first
saw one - “oh, I didn’t know Steve’s middle name was Xavier...”

Sam

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