When writing the initials of a surname such as "St. John" (I will use the first name of Tom for an example), would those initials be written as 'TSJ' or 'TS' or 'TJ' or are all of these equally common?
Another question: Is the full form of the surname always "Saint John", or has the "St." become some sort of prefix?
Best Answer
Traditionally they would be written 'T. St J.', but modern practice in the British English zone is to not use periods, thus 'T St J', or possibly (less formally) 'TStJ'.
Example (1)
Regarding formal style, a note to a scientific paper corrects capitalisation ('ST') and the omission of spaces:
Example (2)
Further, the surname, if written in full, is
St John
orSt. John
and (this is definitely worth knowing) in the UK, it is often pronounced 'Sinjun' or 'Sinjin'. St John (name)