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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
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7
  • 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, 2022 at 17:50
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    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, 2022 at 17:52
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    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, 2022 at 17:57
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    @YosefBaskin yes, at first I thought you were replying to my first comment, so I deleted it.
    – Weather Vane
    Apr 11, 2022 at 18:17
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    Isn't this depending on culture and/or country?
    – Joachim
    Apr 11, 2022 at 18:57

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