Initial for Middle name?

Pick a name you like beginning with P. Or the kid will find themselves forever trying to explain that they are just P.

Could you imagine in school
KidA "Michael is actually called Michael Penis but doesn't tell people"
KidB "Michael what does the P stand for"
Michael "Nothing it's just P"
KidA "See, told you"

Very hard to prove it's just P and kids will make anything up.

I like Michael very much.
If the surname is something as common as Jones, the middle name is likely to be used quite a lot.

Just pick a name you like that starts with a P.
Michael Philip
Michael Peter
Michael Paul
Michael Patrick
Michael Ptolemy
Michael Peregrine
...

or use a surname as a middle name. Pick a P surname from your family tree or just one you like.
Powell
Pettigrew
Price
Patterson
Palmer
...

The thing is, it's not your name. It's not a thing you are choosing for yourself, for whatever is meaningful to you.

You are naming a person. A person who then has to spend their whole life with the name you have chosen for them. I really think the least you can do is choose them an actual name, not just a letter. He's the one who will have to spend his whole life dreading being asked what his middle name is and then explaining that he doesn't have one but yes, the letter is on his birth certificate, and no, he doesn't know what his mother was thinking.

Just pick a name and be kind to your child, rather than have some weird mysterious reference that's only meaningful to you.

Don't be silly.

I wouldn't like to have a name that was purely to represent something else. And not.even a name itself.

I wouldn't like this. It'll be something he has to continually explain too.

I guess it would be allowed but is a bit strange and would cause some confusion later. I think your child would probably come to wish he had a full name instead of a letter.
There must be another way to incorporate it. What's the name that you don't want to use?

I would consider why you want to represent something without using the full name?

If, for example, you wanted P to represent his father’s name Paul but Paul was a waste of space who wants nothing to do with him then surely using just the P would still be a painful reminder for you especially when your son asks why his middle name is a letter.

I would say don’t do it. In reality middle names are barely used, and when they are they tend to be initialised anyway. Having just a single letter seems really obscure and just draws more attention.

Phone the registry office and ask.

I've said this on here before (and should probably change the name, but....) I used to work in a school where we had a child called Ceejay, and the explanation was the parents wanted to call him C J and weren't allowed to register just initials - the initials had to be names even ridiculous, made up names

May have changed, but that is my experience.

Jonly Bonly

Can I have a P please, Bob?

Years ago I heard about someone whose name was the initials JB.
He found an official noted his name as Jonly Bonly after he tried to explain it was J only and B only.
Can you perhaps find another version of the P name you don’t feel you can use? Eg Piers instead of Peter or Pablo instead of Paul

Legally you can, but it seems very unfair on the child, like you are burdening him with some shameful secret you are trying to hide.

Probably a bit of pain when gets asked “what does the P stand for?”
Nothing just P

What are you going to tell your son about the reason he has a middle initial and most people have a middle name? Are you happy to explain who the person was? If not “I just liked the letter P” is different to “you aren’t named after anyone I liked the name Paul”

Good thanks 😂

Will your ds be called Michael? Bit of an old fashioned name imo - not keen.

But do really like the idea of an initial as a middle name.

Any other first name ideas OP?

Very unique and rather nice. Taking a leaf out of Homer J Simpson's book. Love it.

Just like Homer.
He's Homer J Simpson, middle name is J

If you can do it, it's an unfortunate letter. Can you imagine the conversations and misspellings?

What's your middle name?
P
Pee?!
No, just P
Pea?
No, the letter P
What's it short for? How do you spell it? etc etc

Poor kid.

I'd do it. If i had say, 3 people whose names began with the same letter who i wanted to honour, then i would def consider using just an initial. Better than honouring Jeff, Jason and Jill by mashing up and giving the kid the middle name Jefasill or something.

The only thing i can think would be a problem is if a form asks for your full names, whether the data collector might think only part of the name had been filled in... would be annoying to have forms sent back for correction when they were already correct.

Like Homer J Simpson!
The J stands for Jay!

Call him Pea

Jack P Shepherd's middle name is Peter, so there is actually a name behind the initial.

Though I can say that it is a pain the arse to have initials that mean nothing and the explanation of why it is only the initial. Also if the initial is ‘P’ I immediately thought of Baby P, though that may just be me.

Anything seems to go here. Perhaps your child would prefer a name rather than initial.