Do you worry about baby's initials?

[LTK73]

I was wondering how much you pay attention to any possibly words your childrens' initials spell out.
We have a double barrelled surname T-K. We are thinking possibly of calling our DC3 Florence or Freya, middle name Annette (family name). The problem is it spells FAT-K. Is that an issue? Will she be called fatty? or am I reading too much into it?! At work we use initials and I just use LTK so my middle name isn't ever used.

Any thoughts welcome!

ps these aren't our only names, just wondering if we need to nix them now!

I don't think that her middle name would often get used (at school, which is where the teasing would happen, she wouldn't need to tell anyone her middle name if she didn't want to) so I don't think its a concern

Thank you! I think you're probably right - I'm just SUPER conscious about it since I was really badly bullied at school! :)

Yes, initials are an issue and would avoid those ones!

Yes it's more work I'd be concerned about as like you we use initials for everything I used to be just First initial last initial but then someone with the same initials joined so we are first middle and last initial now.

@Freeshavocado same at work but because we have a double barrelled surname that gets used instead of middle initial. It’s interesting.

At my children's school initials including middle letters were used on the outside of PE Kit.

I think I'd avoid those myself.Just add another name. We did this for DS2 as he'd have had my initials. That might not sound like a problem but I had my DM's initials and she was always opening my post! So just to avoid that sort of thing we added another short name.
DS1 has 2 names to DS2's 3. It's never been a problem.

I actively avoided M middle names due to first name B last name W.
I wouldn't use it personally.

Yes, often middle initials are used for letters so friends will see it even if they are unaware from the school register/clock room labels (all schools seem to have a slightly different way of doing things).

All it takes is for the child to tell someone what their middle name is and for somebody else to make the connection, then it’s open for bullies to take advantage. Why not add another name in so it isn’t FAT?

@MollyHuaCha so kids with double barrelled surnames get 4?? As in LJTK instead of LTK?
@campion i was thinking that initially but then whole name would be 8 syllables and I suspect they wouldn’t use the second middle name doing initials anyway. They would skip to the surname. It’s tough! Another name we like spells RAT-K but it’s better than fat!

They're no longer at school (but it wasn't that long ago) and don't have double-barrelled names, so I don't know whether some children had four.

Personally I would avoid FAT, though I do like your choice of names.

I’d avoid RAT FAT. I’d hate those initials.

Put another name in.

Having worked with a p brain who said he was persecuted at school and never called Phil always pbrain ..... I always consider initials

I know someone who got relentless bullied for having the initials DOG. Kids would bark at her. I would avoid at all costs. Initials can be a big deal in school!

Honestly, with a double barrelled surname i’d Drop a middle name altogether. They’re really unnecessary and in many countries are actually not recognised. I’m not really sure why we bother with them.

Memories of Frederick Algernon Trotteville. Florence and Freya are so lovely - is the "A" negotiable at all?

When I was born my parents chose a name for me until someone pointed out my initials would be SAD, so they swapped the first and middle name. All good, until I got married, when my initials became ASS. 🤦‍♀️

I definitely would think carefully about initials!

I loved Hamish, my son would have been HAM which I didn’t like incase he turned out to be a wee porker. I’m glad with my choice because even though he’s not a porker but they use his initials on his Tupperware/bottles for nursery and as M is a popular start of a surname in Scotland they use middle names!

I think it depends and a lot of words that initials can spell would not be an issue.

However I think FAT and RAT are not nice words to be associated with. I wouldn't like them to be my initials. Initials do get used - maybe not all the time - but I would hate to have to feel embarrassed by it, or have to try to avoid it.

I think changing the middle name is your best bet because most consonants for the first name are going to form a word. Alternatively, give her Annette as a first name and then she can be known by her middle name? It's a faff but people do it.

I'd not call her Annette Florence T-K and call her Florence because it is a PITA.
I'd avoid FAT initials and also avoid two middle names.

I would avoid, there was a girl at my school who's initials were SLAG and she got a lot of abuse about it once she hit her teens.

I would think there's a chance that the double barrelled surname would sometimes appear just as T, not T-K. I don't think initials matter UNLESS they spell a word with a negative connotation. I would not take the risk that she would sometimes be known simply as FAT.

I would avoid it

@diddlediddle unfortunately not. Annette is my niece’s name

@Wingingitsince2018 that’s awful! Poor girl. Way worse than fat!