Re: CHAT: Middle Initials

> From: Dan Jones
>
> I've noticed something. Loads of American names have an initial in the
> middle, like Raymond E Feist, Kathlyn S Starbuck and even our own David E
> Bell. Whereas over here we don't do this. Generally we just ignore our
> middle names, and consequently a random letter in the middle of the name
> looks weird to me. To me Daniel B Jones looks slightly pretentious. So, a
> question for you over on the other side of the pond, why do you do it?
I'm not at all sure when I became David E. Bell.  I actually have two middle
names, my full name being David Burgess Eugene Bell or David B. E. Bell.  A
short-lived high school nickname was DeeBeeEeeBee. (My does that bring back
memories.)  My corporate American Express card proclaims me David F. Bell,
an error whose correction became far too involved for me to pursue.  David
Bell is a more common name than one might expect (see my "Other David Bells"
page at http://www.graywizard.net/other_david_bells.htm).  But then, David
E. Bell seems to be almost as common. I have known or known of at least two
others.

As for pretension, I don't think it has that connotation on this side of the
pond.  Of course, I never introduce myself as David E. Bell.  I believe that
would sound a bit pretentious.  Verbally I'm David Bell, but I generally
write by name including the middle initial.  I have no idea why!

I just did a quick perusal of some of my business email and noticed that
just about half the males and none of the females included a middle initial
in their official sig.  Ironically, one of the includers is British.

David

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