Thoughts on U.S.A. for initials

[phillipswife]

"EDIT: I should clarify, the only time it would cause him problems is if people were to go around shouting, "HEY, HIS INITIALS ARE USA!"

I agree with amberdaydream!

I agree too. I've never understood the angst over initials unless they spell something horribly crass or offensive.

First, it's not like you planned USA for his initials to be "cool." It happened to fall into place, and happens to fit your family and background which could make for a neat story from time to time, but they are just initials and they really aren't a big deal unless you *make* them a big deal. There are tons of interesting/odd initial combos. I have a sib whose married initials spell "EAT." So does her daughter's. Yep, TWO people in the family have the initials EAT. Guess how many people notice and comment? 0. Even some family members have yet to put it together. Furthemore, even monogrammed situations don't apply as a traditional monogram would put the last initial in the middle. Maybe when he's signing his mortgage one day (initialing all those pages), it'll make for an interesting piece of trivia, but really... it will almost never come up.

If someone from overseas wants to discriminate because they don't like the U.S. or don't like soldiers, well, why would you want to associate with them anyway? And initials or no initials, you're a Veteran and come from a family with military history... nothing's going to change that and if people don't like, it's their problem/stereotype.

[rebecca90]

I think it's fine. I rarely give my full initials to people. I'm curious what first name you are considering though because U is such a rare first name letter. Would you mind sharing it?

[laurenb]

If anything I think its pretty cool. But honestly, i doubt it will ever really be an issue. My sons initials are MLB! (major League baseball) Sure we like baseball as much as the next guy, but thats not WHY he has those initials. it just so happens it turned out that way, and people think its cool when it comes up. USA is arguably cooler! I say if you are set on the names, then this would be no reason to change them.

[stripedsocks]

I can only think of two boy's "U" names I like. I think really odd U names are likely to be more of a gradeschool teasing issue than the initials themselves.

As a military person, does it bother you that the initials most people will know of his make him an Unauthorized Absence?

[agirlinred]

Quite frankly, I think having USA as your initials is something very few people will ever notice or care about. Unless the initials spell a crude word, it's a silly thing to worry about. If your son visits a country that isn't friendly to America, a) why is he there in the first place?, b) people are far more likely to notice the UNITED STATES printed on his passport as his home country, and c) the other country can just get over it.

[blueberrya]

i think it's tacky

[srchibimn01]

Thanks everyone for the input! He's not here yet but this definitely helped me feel better if we went with a "U" first name. Though I'm afraid if we did go with it I might end up going all red, white, and blue in his nursery and maybe even beyond! lol For those who asked, there's a couple "U" names: Uri, Uriah, and Uzziah. Guess we'll have to see when he's born if those match him or not!

For stripedsocks, I didn't think of that one, but better than the more recognizable initials of AWOL...!

[davisellu]

For the historical perspective, Ulysses S. Grant, put S. as his middle initial because he did not want to use his real initials (HUG-- Hiram Ulysses Grant). While some people thought the S was for Simpson, his mother's maiden name, it wasn't really because the middle initial was just made up. In any case, what about going with US and not necessarily USA? You could use Ulysses Samuel or something similar.

[nono]

Quite frankly, I think having USA as your initials is something very few people will ever notice or care about. Unless the initials spell a crude word, it's a silly thing to worry about. If your son visits a country that isn't friendly to America, a) why is he there in the first place?, b) people are far more likely to notice the UNITED STATES printed on his passport as his home country, and c) the other country can just get over it.

I agree completely with this. If he ever goes to a country where America generally isn't looked upon fondly then I'm sure that his citizenship/passport will be a much bigger issue than the initials of his name, and I don't see the point of going out of your way to accomodate other people's bigotry. Could it be perceived as jingoistic and cheesy? Yes. Should you avoid it because other people don't like America? Not in my opinion, no. The kid will be American anyway, so why does that matter?

I do think that it's slightly cheesy, but it certainly isn't the worst reason ever for a name, and I doubt that it will come up enough for it to be an issue for him.

Have you considered Ulysses as the first name? I'm fond of that one (although it may seem a bit over the top to some people), and it has the added benefit of being an ex-president.

A somewhat subtler way to honor your patriotism in your child's name, if you wanted, would be to use something that has a similar etymology to America. America, of course, is derived from the first name of Italian cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, and Amerigo is an Italian version of Emmerich or Emeric. I believe that Emery, Emmett, and Henry all have similar backgrounds, so any of those would work as more subtle patriotic choices.

More on that:

http://www.behindthename.com/name/amerigo
http://www.behindthename.com/name/emmerich

[cmarie3687]

I love it. I am very patriotic, so that has a lot to do with it. Personally, all these people saying don't do it because some countries don't like America would make me want to do it even more. I wouldn't go out of my way to choose names that spell USA, but if the names you are considering spell it, I think it is very cool I think it would be silly to not do it because some people don't like America, for some reason this makes me a little angry :/