Categorize Initials Title For Free

If a person uses initials for only part of their name, use periods (J. R. R. Tolkien). If a person uses two or more initials to abbreviate their entire name, do not use periods. (FDR, MLK). Latin abbreviations like etc., e.g., c., and i.e. always use periods.

Any initials coming from a name (such as The W. A. Franke College of Business or J. L. Walkup) should have periods and a space between the two initials, just as the two names would have a space. All other acronyms should not have periods or spaces.

As a general rule, we can abbreviate certain titles when they appear before full names or before initials and last names. In American English, abbreviations include a period. We would not abbreviate such titles before last names alone.

A person's initials are a kind of abbreviation, and these are usually followed by full stops: John D. Rockefeller, C. Aubrey Smith, O. J. Simpson. Increasingly, however, there is a tendency to write such initials without full stops: John D Rockefeller, C Aubrey Smith, O J Simpson.

For an individual, the order of initials is the first name, last name, and middle name. The last name initial (center) is larger than those on either side.

Use the following abbreviations for non-military titles preceding or following personal names: Dr. (Doctor) Esq. (Esquire) Hon. (Honorable) Jr. (Junior) Mr. Mrs. Ms. Messrs. (plural of Mr. )

Initials require no periods when someone has come to be known by initials alone (JFK, LBJ, etc.). Mary Jane is MJ. However, formal manuscripts probably need the periods.

Acronyms are common in organization names because they are easy to write, say, and remember. Just a few famous ones you might know include AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) and MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

According to most style guides, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are capitalized in titles of books, articles, and songs. You'd also capitalize the first word and (according to most guides) the last word of a title, regardless of what part of speech they are.

List of Words Not Capitalized in TitlesArticles (a, an, the)Short words (fewer than 4 letters)Prepositions (at, by, to, etc.)Coordinating Conjunctions (and, but, for)May 31, 2021