The missing middle initial!

[AE35Unit]

I've noticed a trend among authors in which they stop using their middle initial on their books. Examples are Stephen M Baxter, Paul J. McAuley and even Gerald M Durrell. Oh and a recent discovery for me, Neal L Asher!
Sometimes I think its an improvement, but some sound better with the initial. Paul McAuley just doesnt have the same ring without the J!(he informed me that he dropped it in 2000)
Iain M Banks of course uses the M to distinguish between SF and contemporary novels (tho his latest book,Transition, has the M excised on some sites-including his own- but present on others)
Any others you can think of? You think Kevin J Anderson should drop or keep the J? Do you think a name sounds cooler, more SFish if it has a middle initial?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It don't think that either one sounds better, but I know that some writers (and actors and artists) do it to distinguish themselves from some other public figure with the same first and last name.

 

[Werthead]

The initial is usually present for legal reasons or to differentiate themselves from other notable figures. George RR Martin put the 'RR' in because he kept being mistaken for the Beatles manager, for example. JRR Tolkien didn't use his first name, John, in day-to-day life, preferring to be called by his second name, Ronald, but at the same time he wanted to honour the names his parents had given to him, so settled for the whole thing.

J. Michael Straczynski didn't like the look of his full name, so settled for shortening the first to an initial, then with a somewhat larger middle name and a much bigger surname. He likes the look of it because it looks like a steam train being pulled along He's mostly known as 'JMS' these days though.

Initials are usually, and regrettable, still used in many cases to disguise the fact that the author has the effontry to be a woman: KJ Parker, JK Rowling and JV Jones. Oddly, the science fiction author Jaine Fenn's books have recently been reissued in spiffy new covers and her name has mysteriously became JN Fenn, which is odd.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Sometimes, too, a pseudonym may be involved. The initials may only be initials and stand for nothing at all. Or the initials may stand for the real name, with a false surname. Paula Downing King, at different times, wrote books under the names Paula King, Paula Downing, and P. K. MacAllister. I believe she is using a completely different name now, having run out of ways to manipulate her real one.

There are probably dozens of different reasons for using initials, beyond the mere aesthetics.

 

[AE35Unit]

You gotta admit Philip K Dick sounds way cooler than just Philip Dick! And Arthur Clarke just doesn't sound right!

 

[clovis-man]

I could see where some authors would not be able to preserve their literary persona by having a middle initial, e.g., Mickey Spillane or Ernest Hemingway.

 

[AE35Unit]

I could see where some authors would not be able to preserve their literary persona by having a middle initial, e.g., Mickey Spillane or Ernest Hemingway.

Hmmm, Mickey J Spillane sounds kinda cool!

 

[Mouse]

The middle initial thing... I get that a lot where I work. I'm English but I work with Americans (they're not there in the building with me!) and I'm always being asked to correct names to include the middle initial. So is it an American thing? (May be a stupid question, but I don't know!)

 

[AE35Unit]

The middle initial thing... I get that a lot where I work. I'm English but I work with Americans (they're not there in the building with me!) and I'm always being asked to correct names to include the middle initial. So is it an American thing? (May be a stupid question, but I don't know!)

Well all the authors in my original post are British so I don't think its an american thing.

 

[Mouse]

Ok. I didn't know that.

 

[Montero]

Poppy Z Brite

Which sounds better in American - Poppy Zee Brite, as opposed to English - Poppy Zed Brite.

Mind you, there is always Perdita X Dream - aka Agnes Nitt

 

[dask]

You gotta admit Philip K Dick sounds way cooler than just Philip Dick! And Arthur Clarke just doesn't sound right!

I almost like John Sladek's reconstruction better: Chipdip K. Kill.

Hmmm...seems Mister Aldiss likes it both ways.

 

[The Judge]

The middle initial thing... I get that a lot where I work. I'm English but I work with Americans (they're not there in the building with me!) and I'm always being asked to correct names to include the middle initial. So is it an American thing? (May be a stupid question, but I don't know!)

I've always understood it to be a US characteristic for the men to use the middle initial rather than just the forename or the name in full eg James T Kirk, though how prevalent it is I don't know -- it's only what I've picked up from watching TV and films (and we all know how accurate they are). I've never met an English person who has introduced him/herself in that way, though I can recall wincing at American programmes where the supposedly English character has done so!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think it's more a thing with American business men of a certain age, and something they put on their business cards, not how they would introduce themselves in real life. Also a thing with American presidents, probably because there's a bit of tradition there.

With actors, I believe there is some sort of rule that you can't join the Screen Actors Guild using the exact same name as another member (no matter how obscure, and possibly no longer acting). So the name is either changed, or a middle name or initial is added.

For myself, I have enough syllables for people to stumble over without adding my middle name or initial!

 

[K. Riehl]

My grandfather told me to use a middle initial as it is more formal and professional sounding.

Would going to initials be a way to obscure gender?

I remember corresponding with Kate Wilhelm about the early days of SF when women authors were advised to take pseudonyms or go to using initials because the publishers believed that teenage boys wouldn't buy books by girls.

Thus Andre Norton started out as Andrew North, Catherine Moore as C.L.Moore....

I believe this was out of fashion by the 60's with the strong sales of Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton(under her own name), Ursula Le Guin etc.

 

[Montero]

The take I was given by my father was if initials, then use them all, if using the name you like to be called by plus surname then no initial.

I appreciate that there are reasons for using the middle initial as given earlier in the thread, but I've always thought it a bit clunky to mix name in full and initial. In a professional (work) context I'd use initials only, unless on friendly terms with the person I am writing to.

Widening the discussion a tad - I'm also a bit dubious about this multiple first name thing anyway. I know its a long established custom and all that, and you get to honour multiple relatives or hedge your bets, or couples each chose a name, but its all a bit complicated for me.

And widening the discussion a lot - don't we make life complicated for ourselves with all the best practice and manners and how what you chose "says" a lot about where you come from?

 

[clovis-man]

My grandfather told me to use a middle initial as it is more formal and professional sounding.

Sometimes conventions are forced upon you. Showing my age here: when I was on active duty in the U.S. Army, we were paid in cash each month. In order to get it, we had to line up and sign a document with our "payroll signature", which consisted of one's first name, middle initial and surname. I got used to doing it for other purposes as well. Post military, because my name is longish, I finally decided to just sign with my first initial and surname. Saves ink & time.

Apropos of pretty much nothing, I guess.

 

[K. Riehl]

I can understand using a middle initial when you have a common name. Looking in my local phone book I have 11 listings for John Smith. How do I tell which is which?

There are also 4 John B., 2 John A., 4 John M. 3 John S. etc...

I understand the need to differentiate.

 

[Montero]

Lois McMaster Bujold - the quaddies. Genetically changed humans formed their own colony out on space stations. Not very many of them to start with so they all went on first names like "Garnet". To avoid confusion only one person at a time was allowed to use a name. Then they ran out of names, so added numbers "Garnet69". There was still a waiting list for the popular names. (can't remember if they also authorised how many numbers - as in maybe couldn't go over 100.)

And on a completely different note, a Sikh lady I knew at college said the custom for naming was to go to the temple, where a number of auspicious letters were selected, and it was up to the parents to arrange them in a pleasing order. Presumably there will be some name repeats, but not that many.

 

[j d worthington]

My grandfather told me to use a middle initial as it is more formal and professional sounding.

Would going to initials be a way to obscure gender?

Indeed it is, and was used as such through much of publishing history.:

Thus Andre Norton started out as Andrew North, Catherine Moore as C.L.Moore....

I believe this was out of fashion by the 60's with the strong sales of Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton(under her own name), Ursula Le Guin etc.

Um, unless I'm misreading that, it sounds as if you are saying that her real name was Andre Norton; not so. Her real name was Alice Mary Norton:

ANDRE NORTON ORG: Who is Andre Norton?

On writers who drop initials (not always middle initials, by the way), you can also include Michael J. Moorcock and J. Ramsey Campbell... this last he used, by the way, for a pseudonym for the original publication of his intentionally pulpish potboiler entertainment, Night of the Claw, which was first pubished as by "Jay Ramsey"....