We’ve all heard some oh-so unfortunate tale of how bitterly little Frankie Aveline Taylor (or some variation of such a name) was bullied in school. Or worry about how Emerson Leeland-Keller may fare when his school friends put the pieces together and gleefully race to tease him mercilessly. Yes, good initials are often on many parent’s (including my own) wishlists for things they need in a baby name for their child. The standard “not too popular, not too weird, easy to spell and pronounce, sounds good with the last name, and no bad initials” has been fixed in place for a while now, with little tweaks being made to the popularity bits every now and again. So are initials really needed for the criteria many of us face when naming a little one? Or will Emerson thrive and Frankie go through school without any of the feared bullying and scrutiny? Today, I’m taking a look at the initials issue, peeking at the reality of the supposed consequences and weighing the importance of our avoidance of RAT and SAD. Dear readers, let’s begin!
Why You Shouldn’t Care About Initials
Let’s be honest here, kids can be absolutely ruthless. Now, I don’t mean to scare you away from your precious Riley Adaline Thompson. Instead, I mean to comfort you. Children will pick on one another and bully outliers for every reason imaginable. What they wear, what they eat for lunch, how they play cops and robbers (*ehem* no personal experience, just a very specific random example). But never have I seen a child get bullied for their initials as many parents fear. First off, it’s got to take some serious sleuthing to get a hold of your child’s middle name. Yes, I did know the middle names of basically everyone in my school, but that’s only because I was a name-obsessed child and I had my ways...And if, by chance, someone manages to find out that Riley’s middle name is Adaline, it’s unlikely that that child will go to the length of putting two and two together and go spelling out her initials. In fact, I would say that that is one of the last things that someone would think to do upon discovering someone’s middle name. So if you’re feeling a tad bit paranoid about the fate of your little Ajax Semaj Salem once he arrives at elementary school, remember that of all the tiny little things he does that he could be mocked for, his initials is a very low probability.
If your concern is having SPY scrawled on the monogram backpack you’re hoping to purchase for your new daughter Seraphina Poppy as she marches into school for the first time, don’t distress! Many monograms put the last initial in the middle as opposed to the middle initial, so her little bag may look more like YSP. With much of the monogram products on the market, really the only public display of initials, scrambling them beyond recognition of the unsavory word, there’s really nothing much to be concerned about. Finally, parents typically use a child’s first or middle name more than they do their initials. Elijah Emmett Williams will likely be called “Eli!” or “Elijah!”, not “EEW!” Elijah is the name that you will be calling your little one by for the rest of his time in your house (presumably), unlike his initials. For a growing family to desert a name they love for better initials, yet never use the initials but have to constantly call him by the alternative name is quite sad and can lead to regret. Sure, Theodore Emmett Williams might have better initials, but if the name doesn’t sparkle half as much as Elijah for that family in particular, then perhaps the fixation of initials is better left forgotten. Sacrificing a lifelong favorite or even just an important family name for the purpose of good initials may not be worth it, especially given the extremely low use of initials in everyday life.
Why Initials Matter
Yes, children are very brutal. Perhaps your little baby boy will get teased for his large ears, or his inability to play football, or his favorite character in a video game. These things are aspects of your child that you have very little to no control over. Maybe you could help him learn to play football, but you can’t do much about his ears or his favorite character. What you do have control over, though, is a name. A name is the very first thing your child receives from you, and it symbolizes the hopes and dreams you may have for that child, as well as the way to intend to raise your little one. But to give a child poor initials right off the bat may set them up for a bit of ridicule or teasing, and lower their self esteem. Of course, incorporating grandpa Clive’s name into your son’s may be very important to you, and sometimes going for the family name is all too worth it and more. However, given the impact of first impressions, which usually include a name, it might be better to set your child up for success with initials that spell out nonsense, particularly if the name isn’t one of sentimental value.
In addition, I was almost given some poor initials, and am very grateful that my parents decided to steer away from them. It wasn’t anything horrid, ELK, but I’m still much happier with the names they did give as opposed to those they were considering, both in style and in the fact that my initials are not ELK. And although this final reason isn’t anything monumental, it’s still a fact of life that your child may come across with a set of unfortunate initials. Usernames and Emails without initials or with strange initials can look unprofessional. For instance, dum10@somelawfirm.com appears, as I said previously, unprofessional, almost as if it’s merely a prank email. However, iluvicecream@somelawfirm.com or dadoffive@somelawfirm.com looks just as poor. Anyway, initials are an integral part to many professional looking email addresses, and with unwanted initials may come some strife with a work email for your child.
The Final Verdict:
Although initials are very integral portions of the baby naming process for many parents expecting a baby or two, I personally think that upon weighing the consequences over the rewards of going for a name combo with… unsavory initials, choosing the name you love seems to always come out on top. Despite being pleased with having initials that spell a whole bunch of nothing, I think that if I really loved a combo that had unpleasant initials, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it. I hope you enjoyed this article, and I’ll see you all shortly for a potential name profile (though it’s still in the works).
Sincerely,
-Delphina Moon