Names including initials: with or without the full stop?

To clarify, my question relates to British English.

Is it considered grammatically correct to use initials with and without the full stop after each capitalised letter?

Example: Which is correct for Jack Russell: J.R. or JR?

I am compiling an agenda, which includes the meeting attendees (each referenced by their initials). Each of the items of the agenda is then assigned to a person, with only their initials being listed.

Solution 1:

british-english

As indicated in the comments, it's not a question of grammar (even though it is a question about punctuation), it's a question of style.

In your example, Jack Russell is represented by a symbol: J.R. or JR (either with or without a space), or even a picture of a terrier. In that case, it really doesn't matter what the symbol is.

There is more of a question about whether full-stops should be used in names or for other abbreviations:

• Mr. J. R. Ewing
• Mr J R Ewing
• John R. Ewing III
• John R Ewing III
• viz.,
• i.e.

Current British practice is to omit many of these full stops. It's fussy and they aren't really necessary to show that the word is an abbreviation: it's unlikely that Mr Ewing's middle initial is just "R". I generally use my middle initial, and never use a full stop. Even a less obvious abbreviation like viz is (it appears, subjectively) losing its customary full-stop.

I suspect the reason for this is that additional stops

• need interpreting to see if they are the end of a sentence
• take an additional keystroke, or time to write

and both of those are reasons in this hectic age to omit dots.

But this is still a matter of style: to use a full-stop may be prescriptively required, but it does nothing to enhance the descriptive function of an initial or other abbreviation.