How to abbreviate "deLuze" [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:
How would you abbreviate surnames starting with Mc/O/D?

How would I abbreviate Jane deLuze?

If I were listing a numbe of people by initials, like John Doe or John Smith, I could use JD, JS etc.... but how would I do deLuze?


Solution 1:

If possible, I would use JdL. If absolutely constrained to two letters, then JL.

Solution 2:

The MLA guideline for Spanish names says:

The Spanish de is not used before the last name when it stands alone.

example: Zayas, Maria de (María de Zayas)

The Chicago Manual of Style has an elaboration on this advice:

When the particle de appears in a Spanish name, the family name, under which the person is indexed, may be either the preceding or the following name (depending in part on how a person is known).

In the common spelling of my middle name (dePano), the de does not stand alone, and I've observed these variations:

  1. In the USA, my middle initial is considered to be D; on my driver's license, it's printed in all caps as DEPANO. My family has always spelled it DePano.
  2. My relatives in my native country consider the initial to be P, and continue to spell it dePano. It's filed under P.

Here, the "how a person is known" clause of the CMoS guideline comes into play, as well as the locale.

  • In the USA, abbreviating Jane deLuze as J. D. likely would not cause any confusion. Americans would tend to hear the name as starting with D.
  • A Spanish-speaking locale might require J. L., or even J.D.L., to follow convention. (For example, I've seen Pedro de la Rosa abbreviated as Pedro D.L.R.)