This is a list of people famous enough to be known unambiguously by their initials:
Famous people known by their initials
- AI, basketball player
- BB, French Actress Brigitte Bardot
- BHL, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy
- DMR, computer scientist Dennis Ritchie
- DSK, French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn
- DNA, British author Douglas Noël Adams
- E2R, Queen of the United Kingdom
- ESR, Eric Steven Raymond, leading figure in the Open Source movement and maintainer of the Jargon File
- FDR, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- FPA, U.S. newspaper columnist Franklin Pierce Adams
- H.D., U.S. Imagist poet Hilda Doolittle
- IDS, British politician Iain Duncan Smith
- JC, Jesus Christ, for theological reasons some Jewish people refer to him simply as "J"
- JFK, U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
- J. Lo, U.S. pop musician Jennifer Lopez
- JWZ, Free software programmer Jamie Zawinski
- J2M, former CEO of Vivendi-Universal Jean-Marie Messier
- LBJ, U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson (It must be noted that Johnson so liked his initials that his children and dogs all had them, and he nicknamed his wife Lady Bird so she could have them too)
- LT, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Lawrence Taylor
- L, Linnaeus, founder of modern systematics, cited by biologists simply as (L) when referenced as author (first official describer) of a species. Note that (L) is truly understood to stand for the man Linnaeus himself, in contrast to an SI unit name like N, which does not stand for the man Newton, but for a physical unit spelled in lower-case that is named in honor of the man Newton.
- MJ, U.S. basketball legend Michael Jordan
- MLK, U.S. civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr.
- OJ, U.S. football player, movie actor, and murder suspect O. J. Simpson
- PPDA, French journalist Patrick Poivre d'Arvor
- Q, British writer Arthur Quiller-Couch
- QT, American movie director/actor Quentin Tarantino
- RAH, U.S. Science fiction author Robert Heinlein
- R.A.W., U.S. futurologist and author Robert Anton Wilson
- RFK, U.S. politician Robert F. Kennedy
- RMS, Free Software advocate Richard Stallman
- TO, American football player
- TR, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
- UKK, Finnish longtime president and strongman Urho Kaleva Kekkonen
- W.L., fictitious name given to real life Ugandan crime victim that journalist Caroline Moorehead wrote about
Borderline cases
- JEB Bush, Florida Governor John Ellis Bush
- BOD, Irish rugby player Brian O'Driscoll
- Eminem ("M 'n' M"), U.S. Rapper Marshall Mathers
- "Dubya", U.S. President George W. Bush (based on his Texan pronunciation of the letter W, which distinguishes him from his father)
- J.D. Roberts was a Canadian television host (MuchMusic, Canada AM). When he joined CBS in 1995 he began using his full name, John Roberts.
- Hergé ("R. G." in French), Belgian comics author Georges Remi
- LB, basketball legend Larry Bird, who usually gives autographs using only his initials.
- ODB, U.S. rapper "Ol' Dirty Bastard"
- TAFKAP, U.S. soul singer Prince, abbreviation for The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, which replaced an unpronounceable symbol as his name. He has since reverted to using his first name of Prince.
Individuals known always or for the most part by initials and surname
A—F
G—P
Q—Z
Individuals known by an initial, middle name and surname
Individuals known by first name and an initial as a surname
Individuals whose use of their middle initial carries special significance
Fictional characters
- BA, B.A. Baracas - Mr. T's character in The A-Team
- BJ, Billie Joe from B.J. and the Bear
- CJ, Reggie's boss in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
- CJ, White House Press Secretary in The West Wing
- E.T., alien
- G.O.B., George Oscar Bluth - Arrested Development
- J.C., J.C. Denton - Deus Ex
- JJ, who coined the term "Dy-no-mite!" on Good Times
- JR, fictional shooting victim on television's Dallas
- J.R. Hartley, character in British Yellow Pages commercial that became a cult figure.
- M, from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic and movie.
- M, from the James Bond films and books.
- Q, from the James Bond films and books.
- Q, from Star Trek: The Next Generation and later series in the Star Trek universe.
- RL, the barely-seen CEO in the comic strip Kevin and Kell.
- TJ, little boy in movie The Champ
- TC, usual appellation for Top Cat
- V, from the V for Vendetta comic book
See also
