> > 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