0

Given names with nobiliary particles or other particles in a last name like

  • Bobby von Ahnen
  • Bobby d'Estaing
  • Bobby de Zichy
  • Bobby del Alcázar
  • Bobby Le Pen

How would you make a two letter set of initials for them? Would you ignore the particle or use it?

  • Bobby von Ahnen: BV or BA
  • Bobby d'Estaing: BD or BE
  • Bobby de Zichy: BD or BZ
  • Bobby del Alcázar: BD or BA
  • Bobby le Pen: BL or BP
superNES64
  • 101
  • If you allow the d' I wonder why O' in Scottish names isn't considered to be a nobiliary particle (unlike Mc which is a prefix). – Weather Vane Apr 11 '22 at 17:50
  • 1
    Until La Belle and La Piana become Labelle and Lapiana, I'd ignore the minor of word and go with the capitals. – Yosef Baskin Apr 11 '22 at 17:52
  • 1
    To a first approximation, the "correct" orthography is whatever the people who actually have such names choose to write. But as it happens, the most recent citation in the full OED for "nobiliary" (underlined in red by my browser as "not a word") is Of all people a student of Proust ought to know that it is de rigeur to drop the nobiliary particle* when referring to someone by his name alone.* – FumbleFingers Apr 11 '22 at 17:57
  • I remember years ago an announcer on BBC Radio 3 commenting that he had made a solecism by referring to de Falla: he should say either Falla or Manuel de Falla. – Colin Fine Apr 11 '22 at 18:03
  • ... and yet the relevant Wikipedia article has 'Di Stéfano began his career at Argentina's River Plate ...'. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 11 '22 at 18:13
  • 1
    @YosefBaskin yes, at first I thought you were replying to my first comment, so I deleted it. – Weather Vane Apr 11 '22 at 18:17
  • 1
    Isn't this depending on culture and/or country? – Joachim Apr 11 '22 at 18:57

0 Answers0