Re: CHAT: Middle Initials

It is often done for distinction. At times I work at
registering people that come into the ER and admitting
ER patients into the hospital. It is _very_ helpful to
know that the unconscious and aged Ann Smith is N., B.,
C., or D. Date of birth and Social Security Number (the
other main forms of ID) may not be known by the person
who's calling the admission. A middle initial is very
helpful here.

I don't use mine, but I'm sure there are other valid
reasons for using them.

Padraic.

On Tue, 13 Feb 2001, Dan Jones wrote:

>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?
>
>Daniel B Jones
>
>-----------------------------------------------
>Ka yokonáu iti báyan: "cas'alyá abhiyo".
>
>Ka tso iti mantabayan: "yama zaláyá
>alánekayam la s'alika, cas'alika; ka yama
>yavarryekayan arannáam la vácika, labekayam
>vácika, ka ali cas'alyeko vanotira."
>-----------------------------------------------
>Dan Jones
>