What is the correct way to present the author's abbreviated name?

AnnieQuinn · 08-02-2025, 02:52 AM

Hello.
For example: J.R.R. Tolkien
What is the standard way to present:
1/ J.R.R. Tolkien
2/ J. R. R. Tolkien
I asked Chatgpt, it replied that it was way number 1.
But on some book covers published in my country, I saw that they wrote way number 2.
Thank you for reading and answering.

pdurrant · 08-02-2025, 02:58 AM

Some people like one way, some people like another. There is no standard.

These threads might be of interest:
Discussion of full stops or not: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=366638

How to use Quality Check plugin to set a standard for your library: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=368498

Quoth · 08-02-2025, 04:02 AM

Yet again, ChatGPT is wrong. #2 is marginally more common than 1. Pick a standard.

There are 4 ways, but the first 2 are common.

3rd: Author initials without space or periods.
4th: There maybe books with all lower case.

All of this only applies to some languages. Some don't have periods for abbreviation or upper and lower case.

uli · Yesterday, 08:58 AM

The Library of Congress uses spaces, everything else is wrong. /sarcasm

"Adjacent personal name initials/letters or an abbreviation for a name and an adjacent name or initial/letter are separated by one space."

https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bdx00.html

Moonbase59 · Yesterday, 01:17 PM

The German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek; DNB) and Wikipedia also use one space (and the period).

Good thing to know, since there’s also a Calibre metadata source plugin for DNB (DNB_DE).

Thanks for bringing this up, @AnnieQuinn—I’ve always been a little unsure about this!

Jaws · Yesterday, 11:31 PM

The "right way" also depends in part on what field the book is in. For example, most nontrade STEM books insist on no spaces ("J.R.R. Tolkein"), and in some subfields no periods either ("JRR Tolkein" — or, rather, "Tolkein, JRR").

I personally favor the last for everything, because at least for filenames I try to avoid periods for anything except the file extension (.epub) and volume/edition/year numbers where those are truly significant and I'm keeping other volumes/editions/years that otherwise have the same title. But then, I'm weird.

08-02-2025, 02:52 AM	#1
AnnieQuinn Connoisseur Posts: 71 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2024 Location: Vietnam Device: PC, Kindle ppw5, Boox Go 6	What is the correct way to present the author's abbreviated name? Hello. For example: J.R.R. Tolkien What is the standard way to present: 1/ J.R.R. Tolkien 2/ J. R. R. Tolkien I asked Chatgpt, it replied that it was way number 1. But on some book covers published in my country, I saw that they wrote way number 2. Thank you for reading and answering.

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08-02-2025, 02:58 AM	#2
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 74,015 Karma: 315160596 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	Some people like one way, some people like another. There is no standard. These threads might be of interest: Discussion of full stops or not: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=366638 How to use Quality Check plugin to set a standard for your library: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=368498 Last edited by pdurrant; 08-02-2025 at 03:02 AM.

08-02-2025, 04:02 AM	#3
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,170 Karma: 105212035 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Yet again, ChatGPT is wrong. #2 is marginally more common than 1. Pick a standard. There are 4 ways, but the first 2 are common. 3rd: Author initials without space or periods. 4th: There maybe books with all lower case. All of this only applies to some languages. Some don't have periods for abbreviation or upper and lower case.

Yesterday, 08:58 AM	#4
uli Zealot Posts: 110 Karma: 194274 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Montreal Device: Kobo, Calibre	The Library of Congress uses spaces, everything else is wrong. /sarcasm "Adjacent personal name initials/letters or an abbreviation for a name and an adjacent name or initial/letter are separated by one space." https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bdx00.html

Yesterday, 01:17 PM	#5
Moonbase59 Addict Posts: 212 Karma: 1000000 Join Date: Oct 2021 Location: Germany Device: Tolino Vision 5, Tolino Tab 8", Pocketbook Era (16GB)	The German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek; DNB) and Wikipedia also use one space (and the period). Good thing to know, since there’s also a Calibre metadata source plugin for DNB (DNB_DE). Thanks for bringing this up, @AnnieQuinn—I’ve always been a little unsure about this!

Yesterday, 11:31 PM	#6
Jaws JCL Punch-Card Collector Posts: 78 Karma: 34468 Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Antarctica Device: Aggressively Device Independent	The "right way" also depends in part on what field the book is in. For example, most nontrade STEM books insist on no spaces ("J.R.R. Tolkein"), and in some subfields no periods either ("JRR Tolkein" — or, rather, "Tolkein, JRR"). I personally favor the last for everything, because at least for filenames I try to avoid periods for anything except the file extension (.epub) and volume/edition/year numbers where those are truly significant and I'm keeping other volumes/editions/years that otherwise have the same title. But then, I'm weird.

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