[uf-discuss] Re: marking up initials in names

[Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis]

Edward O'Connor wrote:
> Andy Mabbett wrote:
> 
>> I have a need to mark up some people's names, which are given as 
>> initials only, and where the full names for which those initials
>> stand are not known. For example, "A. N. Other".
> [...]
>> In the absence of an "initials" property, how would you mark up
>> such a name, in an hCard?
> 
> How about <abbr> without @title? This seems to have the semantic of
> "I know this is an abbreviation for something, but I don't know that 
> something." E.g.
> 
> <span class="vcard"> <a href="http://foo.example.com/" class="url fn
> n"> <abbr class="given-name">A</abbr>. <abbr
> class="additional-name">N</abbr>. <span
> class="family-name">Other</span> </a> </span>

I think Andy's problem was that you don't know that A. is the initial 
for the given name, since not all first names are given names. It could 
be N. See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Given_name

--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis