A lot of people take that attitude.

An edited version of a person's name is not identifying a person.

It is fundamentally wrong thinking.

A person has a name. Names are important.

Nobody has the right to start deeming that an edited version is to be used.

Computers are programmed by people. So the widespread use of one and only one so-called 'middle' initial being used is just something that some of the people programming computer systems have chosen to do.

But the practice of only using the first two initials of somebody else's name, therefore being unwilling to copy a name correctly from one document to another, was often in use before the widespread use of computers, in typed correspondence and such. I wonder why people do it. It seems arrogant and aggressive to me, that they are going to do what they choose to do and that's that.

It is discrimination.

In practice, I always ask if there is not a facility to include all three initials to just use the first one, not the first two. Using just the first one looks fine, using just the first two always seems wrong to me, as if it is referring to somebody else, not referring to me.

William

I have never suggested that having three given names is in any way some indication of my worth.

That concept had never occurred to me.

You writing that comes as a surprise.

Perhaps some people think that I think that.

Thank you for the compliment that you included, much appreciated.

It is just that it is my name.

My three given names are one each from each of my nearest male ancestors.

My three given names are integral to my identity as a person.

Perhaps that is part of why I feel upset inside when people unilaterally choose to omit one of them.

William

Yes, some computer software only allows that. That is because of how it has been programmed.

The new Unicode specification has fileds given and given2 and each can have more than one name in each of them, with spaces between them.

So now there is the opportunity for computer systems to get the job done properly. If there does not develop a practice among people applying the specification of only using the first character of the given2 field as "middle initial" rather than using the first character of given2 and the next character after each space character in given2 to provide one or more initials after the first given name.

Not only the items that you name. Also, for example, car insurance document.

I have never had to do it, but imagine needing to produce driving licence and insurance document at a police station and them not both having identically the same name on them.

I say "I'm William Overington".

I am surprised that more males do not have three given names, with names one each from the three nearest male ancestors.

William

I did once go somewhere (I know exactly where, just redacted here) and a man who was about to fill in a form asked me "What are your Christian names?" and I replied, and he thought that I had told him my Christian names and my surname.

On a separate occasion I once filled in a form that had separate areas for Christian names and Surname and, hey ho, I got a letter in reply addressed to me as Mr then two initials and my third Christian name as if it were my surname.

William