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Tracey L Spicer reflects on the rise of the middle initial

Tracey Spicer

by Tracey Spicer

14 Sep 05:50am

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Filed under: Business, Names, Society

78 comments

I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but there’s a dangerous outbreak of M.I.S. in Australia at the moment.

The middle initial: No-one thinks you're smart because of it. Photo: AP

It first struck the upper echelons of the business community, but has since trickled down to middling players in the showbiz, media and legal fraternities. Like many trends it began in North America, where its sufferers include actor William H. Macy and former President George W. Bush. 

It’s Middle Initial Syndrome. And it’s coming to a business card near you.

For years, post-nominal titles have been propagating.

You know – PhD, AO, AC. 

Then people started adding the acronyms of member organisations: Jane Smith ASFB (Australian Society for Fish Biology).

Now, in a world where too many letters is barely enough, those seeking to impress – let’s call them W.A.N.K.E.R.S. – are adding their middle initials to this alphabet soup.

One well-known Sydney lawyer has added a W (fittingly) to the middle of his name to differentiate himself from a famous astrophysicist.

I guess it must get confusing, with people calling all the time asking him to recite Pi to 22514 places.

Then there’s the Aussie cameraman who added an L. to his name to emulate American cinematographer Conrad L. Hall, the genius behind American Beauty.

I’m sure that must come in handy while filming Brand Power commercials.

The etymology of middle initials is actually quite fascinating (if you have nothing else meaningful to contemplate today.)

In the US, Canada and Australia there is usually only one middle name, which is abbreviated when personal records are stored on computer databases.

M.I.S. spread through Hollywood via a convention in the Screen Actor’s Guild that each active member must have a unique name for the credits.

Michael Fox decided to add the J. because there was already an actor with the same name holding a union card.

(In Family Ties he even played a character with M.I.S., Alex P Keaton.)

Former US President Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant, but a Congressman mistakenly added the S. and it stuck.

Harry S Truman didn’t actually have a middle name, but was christened with the S to represent the names of both of his grandparents.

There’s no period after the S because it isn’t an abbreviation.

Across the Atlantic, the Brits prefer to use their full middle name rather than an initial. This is considered to be a class issue.

But what of the practice of using the full middle name and abbreviating the Christian name, as in F. Scott Fitzgerald or J. Edgar Hoover?

Apparently this trend began in America’s deep south, where they thought it sounded affluent.

(Of course in the case of L. Ron Hubbard, it might have been the fact that his parents christened him Lafayette. That explains an awful lot of things.)

While the business community in Australia is afflicted with M.I.S., politicians are largely immune.

This might be due to fear of mockery.

Take Julia Eileen Gillard, for example.

What does the E. really stand for? Egregious? Or simply empty?

Anthony John Abbot could be pilloried for being a jackboot or a jester.

And so it goes.

Even our saviour didn’t escape the syndrome.

Incidentally what does the H stand for in Jesus H. Christ…?

- Tracey L. Spicer is a 2UE broadcaster, Sky newsreader, Daily Telegraph columnist, MC and keynote speaker. The L does not stand for louche, loose or lascivious.

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78 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Steve says:

      06:16am | 14/09/10

      Best ever Simpson’s episode was the one about what Homer J. Simpsons middle initial stood for, turned out his middle name was “Jay”.

      Reply

    • steve parker says:

      06:34am | 14/09/10

      I was born into quite a poor family and my Dad always told me he and Mum couldn’t afford a middle name for me.

      Reply

    • Jo says:

      12:06pm | 14/09/10

      Same here. Mind you with a Slovak maiden name that most people tripped over, it was probably a good thing! Though frankly, I never thought our name was hard to say or spell!

    • Brad of Bentleigh says:

      06:36am | 14/09/10

      Not only do we have the content with, let’s call them P.R.A.T.T.S using their middle initial (or a made up one) in their name… an annoying problem to be sure… more irritating, and perhaps even more deserving of the P.R.A.T.T.S title, is the massive increase witnessed, (largely by the bogan elite) of the hyphenated surname.
      I think it encumbent of us as a society, to redecule these bogan elitists wherever we find them.

      Reply

    • Lorraine says:

      08:22am | 14/09/10

      Not all hyphenated surnames come from “bogan elitists” . Most are genuine double barrelled names from England…...Lorraine with a hyphenated surname withheld!!!

    • Shane says:

      09:28am | 14/09/10

      To Brad of Bentleigh. Hyphenated surnames come from way back - not just from bogan elitists. I suspect because you’re referring to them as elitists, you’re feeling inferior?
      Idiot.

    • Flash says:

      10:54am | 14/09/10

      Bogan elite?  An oxymoron if I ever heard one.

    • Sheedy's Left Foot says:

      11:59am | 14/09/10

      Not going to point out the fun in someone from Beenleigh criticising Bogans…

      But I am pretty sure double barrelled surnames originated when powerful families wanted to show the power of their union and demonstrate a partnership or when it was a marriage between involving an only female child and they did not want the name to disappear.

      There may be a bog an trend in calling your kids Shontayne Maloo-Feral but the origins are not bogan.

    • Brad of Bentleigh says:

      12:51pm | 14/09/10

      Wow, I think a few missed the point… Flash and Sheedy are closest to the pin though tongue laugh

      If one studies the nouveau bogan, there is indeed a noticable increase in the hyphenated surname. This is to demonstrate one’s elitist status among the bogan class. Common also is the “formal lounge complete with Harvey Norman interest free furtiture” (sometimes covered in plastic). Also, being a bogan is not a product of one’s suburb, and does anyone even know where “Beenleigh” is? I don’t… I take it there must be a high proportion of bogan activity in this place. Might be worth studying… someone call “David-Taylah Attenborough-Smith” to bring his film crew.

      Sheedy’d left foot appears to have witnessed, or at least understands boganism, though also thought I was somehow confused over the origin of hyphenated names. My initial post made no claim as to the origin, and, whilst I thank those helpful responders in trying to educate me, it’s quite uneccessary.

      For all those who treat this post (along with my first) seriously, please reply on the next page…

    • Brad of Bentleigh says:

      01:36pm | 14/09/10

      For your education on all things bogan, please google “things bogans like” grin

    • Danzig says:

      04:38pm | 14/09/10

      He assumes your in a hole of a suburb in Brisbane, and not somewhere else where you actually are.  Beenleigh is on the freeway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

    • Earl of newberry says:

      06:00pm | 14/09/10

      What happens when a Sarah Hanson’Young meets a Brian Whittington’Smythe and they have a Daughter? Imagine fitting that name on a birthday invitation, Brittany Hanson’Young-Whittington’Smythe. Some W.A.N.K.E.R. will do it someday soon.

    • C1 says:

      07:01am | 14/09/10

      At least it may stop the ridiculous practice of butchering first names (‘because it makes them special!’) like Traycie, Traichie or Tricie (if I could do inflexions you would all be in trouble).
      Still it would obviously progress from ‘L’ to ‘LL’ or ‘elle’ and the circle of life would start again.

      Reply

    • TimB says:

      07:47am | 14/09/10

      Actually the naming convention I find REALLY annoying is the continous abbreviation of celebrity names (or celebrity partnerships).
      These people are annoying enough enough as it is, without giving them an annoying nickname like “Li-Lo” or some such stupidity.

      Reply

    • darrenb says:

      01:44pm | 14/09/10

      what about abreviating your first name because you have a persecution complex

    • Denny Crane says:

      07:50am | 14/09/10

      It is a very american style, ite more to give impact to your name.

      You will see another form in names where you have Davis Love III, the americans again, with names the 2nd the 3rd, i am not sure the reasoning, but i have noticed it more and more.

      Remember John F Kennedy is another with middle initial

      Reply

    • Bob says:

      06:19am | 15/09/10

      it’s Davis Love III because Davis Love Junior Junior sounds awful raspberry The good ol’ US tradition of being ‘original’ and naming your son the same as yourself and him naming his son the same name ad bloody nauseum…

      Speaking of which, a quick little Google search will tell you the lazy bastard named his son… you guessed it Davis Love IV

    • Tedd says:

      08:04am | 14/09/10

      “Take Julia Eileen Gillard, for example. What does the E. really stand for?”

      Eileen? or a Tower of Pisa thing?

      Reply

    • Helen says:

      12:05pm | 14/09/10

      I thought it was Julia Ilean to the Left ....

    • T.Chong says:

      08:04am | 14/09/10

      Whats with dissing the mid ? Sarah Jessica Parker, HG Wellls, Ron L Hubbard, John WINSTON Howard ? Not good enough?
      Whats wrong with them ones ?
      Next yous will be bagging Humphrey B Bear, and Jesus H. Christ.
      Sounds like Gillard- socialist inspired class warfare to me.

      Reply

    • Andy D says:

      10:16am | 14/09/10

      Actually, it’s L Ron Hubbard, not Ron L Hubbard.

      And that leads me onto another annoying American affectation. You don’t like your first name so you use your middle name instead, but then you tack that first initial on the front anyway.

      Humphrey B Bear might be mildly annoying but imagine if it was B Humphrey Bear instead.

    • Marty says:

      10:49am | 14/09/10

      The stupidest thing is that people assume Jesus’ last name was “Christ” when in fact “Christ” is a derivative of a greek word meaning “the anointed one”, similar to the Hebrew word “Messiah”. Therefore, it was a title, like “Doctor” or “Professor”, and is used by one of his disciples who said “You are the Christ” when asked who he thought Jesus was. Jesus had no middle name of record, and his full name in keeping with Jewish tradition at the time (to the best of my knowledge) would have been something like “Jesus Barjoseph”, meaning “Jesus, son of Joseph”.

    • Tone says:

      11:10am | 14/09/10

      AndyD, some of us got stuck with our parents using our middle names from day 1; as happened to one of them and a sibling.  Boy do I wish I had changed it when I thought about it in my early 20s.  You feel compelled to sometimes use your first initial as some publication only use initials or just your first first/“christian"name.

    • TheRealDave says:

      12:28pm | 14/09/10

      @Marty - I was reading an article that suggested Jesus’s name was actually Yeshua Bin Arraba/Binarabba (son of the Father) which Latinized would have been Jesus Barrabas…which sheds, I think, new light on the whole crucifixion story. We have the crowds clamouring fo the release of Jesus Barabas but the Romans saying ‘bugger you we’re nailing him to a cross’. Its well known that crucifixion was a special punishment resered almost exclusively for the crime of insurrection against the Roman state. The Romans weren’t in the practice of pandering to their sugbjugated peoples. My own theory is that Yeshua was a rightly, anointed (hence the Christ/messiah bit) Jewish leader trying to kick the Romans out, which is why he had amongst his closest associates members of the Sicarii and Zealots (google them). Long story short, when Christianity was invented as the sole state religion by Constantine 300 odd years later the Jews were recast as the villains and the Romans re-written in as the not so bad guys trying to be fair.

    • Max says:

      04:00pm | 14/09/10

      @Marty:  Jesus’ middle name was ‘Of’, ie, Jesus Of Nazareth.  Having a preposition for a middle name is strange and uncommon. 

      Other strange middle names are definite articles such as ‘the’, eg, Winnie The Pooh.

    • chris says:

      05:32pm | 14/09/10

      Andy D, I read somewhere that Humphrey’s middle name was “Bear”. So following the SMA protocol (Stoopid Merkin Affectation) his name would be H Bear Bear.

    • TheRealDave says:

      08:40am | 14/09/10

      It gets worse, I have noticed an alarming number seppo’s I know use all three full names ie Trevor John Smith which has started to creep into a few Aussies I know who live in the US. I bet its not long before it becomes popular here.

      Reply

    • Helen says:

      12:09pm | 14/09/10

      Yes and we all know serial killers and murderers have three names ... John Wayne Gacey, Lee Harvey Oswald etc

    • Chris L says:

      03:56pm | 14/09/10

      I thought it was only angry mothers who did that. I still cringe if ever I hear my full name.

    • The Badger says:

      10:01am | 14/09/10

      I have a problem with people hyphenating their last names. This may work (although I am not a fan of it), but as generations unfold, names will get longer and longer as hyphenated names marry hyphenated names - Think of the kids.
      The German Constitutional Court last year upheld a ban on married people combining already-hyphenated names, forbidding last names of three parts or more.
      There are some names which should definitely not be hyphenated. These are some found in newspapers.  http://cbs13.com/slideshows/Married.Names.Hyphenate.20.462840.html

      Reply

    • Fiona says:

      12:11pm | 14/09/10

      That’s gold!

    • Shifter says:

      01:04pm | 14/09/10

      Or you could be of Spanish/Portuguese descent and have unending lists of patronymics… so that when you become a famous soccer player you just drop all but one.

    • fairsfair says:

      10:08am | 14/09/10

      I have noticed it lately within my friends group on facebook. Anyone who’s anyone has a three name. Not a middle initial - a three name. Some even have more then one middle name and end up with a sentence for name. I eye roll everytime I see it. My parents never gave me a middle name as apparently they struggled enough coming up with a first name (being my mum’s own middle name). Ah, if only they had been more imaginative…as I am feeling left out.

      I recently requested suggestions for a middlename. I dare not repeat most of them and note that they came from those three named w.a.n.k.e.r.s.

      Reply

    • Sheedy's Left Foot says:

      11:55am | 14/09/10

      It couldn’t be because on a site like Facebook with over 500 million users there may be another person with the same name and they want to differentiate themselves so their friends can find them?

      Longshot I know that within 500 million people a name may appear more than once but you never know.

    • fairsfair says:

      12:48pm | 14/09/10

      There are many many people on facebook with the same name - exact spelling, everything. Your profile is built off your login (email address - no two the same) and you can therefore make your screen name anything and also edit it while your profile is active. That is why I could be Alexander Supertramp if I wanted to be and then later change it to “Alexander H. Supertramp”. It is also why you see all these people with really fulfilling lives creating a facebook page for their cat and/or dog… I guess I will really start to worry when “Mittens” becomes “S. Mittens M. Snugglebunny III”

    • fairsfair says:

      12:57pm | 14/09/10

      Sorry Sheedy, forgot to say - I distinguish by photo and location when there are multiple names.

      Posts seem lecturing if you forget to include a point wink

      I am of the opinion that if my friends can’t find me off that - do I really want to be their friend?? wink  I see your point though - but I think people just think that they are somehow superior because they are distinguishing themselves - it is primarily all good fun though (in the same vein as this article).

    • Michael says:

      10:23am | 14/09/10

      Few add their middle initial to be pretentious.

      Let’s take the first examples of George W Bush (to differentiate him from his father) and William H Macy (to differentiate from another William Macy).  Some actors go so far as to change their name to be unique (forced on them by various guilds) - one example is David Tennant.

      J Edgar Hoover?  F Scott Fitzgerald?  HG Wells? Not exactly recent examples showing any particular trend.

      Reply

    • Dave says:

      07:12pm | 14/09/10

      Not to mention E Gough Whitlam or J Malcolm Fraser.

    • LJH says:

      09:25pm | 14/09/10

      My thoughts exactly!

      Also, Samuel L. Jackson used to be Sam Jackson (Loaded Weapon) What a W.A.N.K.E.R? hey Tracey

    • Gordon G W says:

      10:28am | 14/09/10

      If Tracey L Spicer were to contribute to society at large sufficiently that she were to be appointed an AC or AO would she add those post nominals?
      Or do I detect a trace of inverted snobbery ?

      Reply

    • Sanchy says:

      10:40am | 14/09/10

      Still curious as to Jesus’ middle H???

      Waht is it?

      Reply

    • Austin 3:16 says:

      12:09pm | 14/09/10

      The middle name is Harold, it’s a name from his father (god). You can tell from that old prayer that starts: “Our father who art in heaven Harold be thy name”

    • Brad of Bentleigh says:

      12:57pm | 14/09/10

      ahhh LOL… Thanks Austin 3:16… finally someone who is not taking this seriously…

      Don’t people realise that this is Australia, if a piss-take opportunity presents itself, just take it! grin

    • ILR says:

      04:05pm | 14/09/10

      I thought it was Jesus H. F. Christ.

    • TONY G says:

      10:43am | 14/09/10

      Interestingly, the “S” in Harry S Truman’s name didn’t stand for anything.

      Reply

    • James Mc says:

      11:25am | 14/09/10

      Neither does the H in H Norman Schwarzkopf (US Army Ret.)

    • AliceMc says:

      10:44am | 14/09/10

      There’s also an outbreak of girls using their middle name as their LAST name.
      Eg. A friend at uni called herself Sally Patricia. Several other friends do the same.
      It’s nauseating.

      Reply

    • AFR says:

      03:48pm | 14/09/10

      And what’s the go with Jennifer Love Hewitt?

    • Matthew C. Smith says:

      11:45am | 14/09/10

      I use the Middle initial in my name- mainly because where I work alone there are two other people with the same name so I need to differentiate it a bit. But many people do in my opinion use it to be pretentious.

      Reply

    • Kate says:

      11:50am | 14/09/10

      And what happens to those of us with no middle name? Even if we were big enough wankers to want to follow this trend, we aren’t able to because our parents were too slack to give us a middle name!

      Reply

    • sheedy's Left Foot says:

      12:01pm | 14/09/10

      Tracey, can you do a follow up on the appalling Christian names Australians give to their kids. Particuarly the ones with the deliberately terrible spellings that are supposed to make the offspring unique?

      Reply

    • fairsfair says:

      01:09pm | 14/09/10

      No 1 on my list - “Jaxon”. Uniquely bogan is all it says and as a moderate bogan myself, I am appauled.

    • TheRealDave says:

      02:05pm | 14/09/10

      Apostrophes do not belong in names - end of story. You hearing me T’Neesha and T’kwan?

    • mike oxbigg says:

      12:08pm | 14/09/10

      What would Smokey The Bear do without his middle name?

      Reply

    • Nicole says:

      02:54pm | 14/09/10

      And what about Humphrey B Bear?

    • ILR says:

      04:04pm | 14/09/10

      The same thing as Winnie The Pooh, John the Baptist, Thomas the Tank Engine et. al.  And before you say that Baptist and Tank Engine describes what they are, consider Winnie’s feelings please.

    • EG says:

      12:12pm | 14/09/10

      Ok, that’s it for me - I’m dropping the lot (first, middle & last!) & I’m going down the route that Prince - oops , sorry…“the artist formerly known as Prince”  went….I’m going to look for a suitable symbol - perhaps “$”.....maybe it’ll rub off & actually produce for me!
      Thanks for putting me straight (btw, I suspect that the “L” stands for “Laughing” as in laughing at us & all other M.I.S. afflicted sods)
      $ (formerly EJG)

      Reply

    • B says:

      01:04pm | 14/09/10

      Oh, Americans, snigger snigger.  We are so much more sophisticated here with our bogan made-up names for our children and our Traceys, Kylies, Jasons and Darrens.  We’ve even had a Kevin as PM and a Wayne as our Deputy PM…AND our serial killers don’t have middle names.  Those Americans could learn a thing or two from us.

      Reply

    • Toni L Maizey says:

      01:06pm | 14/09/10

      Actually Jesus H Christ is simply an exclamation and the H stands for Holy as in Jesus Holy Christ. Swearing without swearing in fact. Anyway…......

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      01:59pm | 14/09/10

      Goddarn it to Heck! I think your right!

    • Tedd says:

      09:01pm | 14/09/10

      Is that
      God-darn it to heck,
      God, darn it to heck, or
      Goddarn it too, Heck,
      Goddarn it, 2heck

    • firstname lastname says:

      01:13pm | 14/09/10

      From large women in American television shows I thought Jesus’ middle name was Himself.
      As in “Jeeeeesus HIMseeeelf CHRIST!!!”
      I never really thought about it seriously, can you take middle names seriously? What purpose do they present?

      Reply

    • Emma says:

      01:26pm | 14/09/10

      Anyone who cares what someone else calls themselves has no life.  I like to use my full name because I rock and so does my name. Welcome to gen Y where people can be who they want and don’t care what you think as long it is not offensive.

      Reply

    • P. Darvio says:

      02:00pm | 14/09/10

      President Clintons staff members removed all the “w” ‘s from the computer keyboards in the White House the day before George “W” Bush took office. Apparently up to 100 keyboards had to be replaced. Maybe that is a good reason not to have a MIS

      Reply

    • Nick says:

      03:34pm | 14/09/10

      Surely no one on this earth is more entitled to use a middle initial than Ms Grace Grace, the trade union identity!

      Apropos of very little, I went to school with two girls who surely must have grown into highly confident women - or into jail for parenticide:

      Amanda Rheen and Sandy Beech. All kudos to them smile

      Reply

    • AFR says:

      03:50pm | 14/09/10

      That’s for a separate discussion altogether, and don’t start me on people called Michael Hunt….

    • Sal says:

      03:52pm | 14/09/10

      Hmm well I work in a very large company (over 50,000 people) where there is more than one person with my name. I decided to add my middle initial as to help ease the confusion with internal emails. If it makes me a W.A.N.K.E.R. then so be it. raspberry

      Reply

    • Paul D. says:

      08:12pm | 14/09/10

      Same here Sal. Large company, more than one person with my name, so I went for the middle initial. The thing is, I still get email for the other person!!!!

    • First MIDDLE last says:

      06:39pm | 14/09/10

      I think this whole use of middle names thing is blown way out of proportion, personally I will proudly use my middle name as my family has had a five generation tradition that the first male child gets the fathers name as a middle name and the first female child gets the mothers name as a middle name. Not to mention the usefulness of middle names if you work with people who have the same name as you!

      Reply

    • Chad says:

      09:14pm | 14/09/10

      Tracey Spicer… you are ridiculously hot smile

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      09:15pm | 14/09/10

      Trace Y. Spicer ?

      Reply

    • red square says:

      10:43pm | 14/09/10

      I love the fact that I do not have a middle name. It’s quite rare, strangely, my family all have one but me.

      Reply

    • Chris says:

      11:26pm | 14/09/10

      Why are you so angry Tracey?  Who really cares if people seek to differentiate - in North America it is the norm.  You should travel more.

      Reply

    • Youdy beaudy says:

      06:21am | 15/09/10

      Now there you’all, I happen to like my middle name so there. PFFFFFt to all of you dissenters. Hypenated not liked as that is a bit snobby and would end up becoming very long after a few generations when one would’nt know whether they were related to Arthur or Martha. So there, cop that, I have a very nice name and much better that someone called Tracy Spicer, where the hell did that come from. Was her ancestor a spice merchant or very spicey indeed. Now, let’s all get a grip. Youall come back now hear.

      Reply

    • Empire says:

      09:25am | 15/09/10

      My husbands brother and his wife took so long to name their daughter that the birth certificate came back as ” no name marsh” so she had no first name or middle name.
      They had to have her birth certificate changed before she got her license, heaps of paperwork , explanations with weird looks and visits to various government agencies,  she still doesn’t have a middle name, and it will always be recorded on the birth certificate as a name change.

      Reply

    • David Rogers says:

      09:26am | 15/09/10

      I think before Brad of Bentleigh takes up the fight against M.I.S. he might like to master a spell checker…

      Reply
 
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They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more

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