When did it become the 
in 
thing to sign off your e-mails with just your initials (or even just one initial)?
I’m getting more and more e-mails that end with something like (using John Doe as the name in the example):
… Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
Regards,
j.
or even a plain:
… Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
JD
Why am I seeing more and more of this?
Is this supposed to signify an informal relationship between the two people?
Perhaps the person is so busy and important that they don’t have time to type their entire name? (I even know some folks who have this as part of their auto-attached signature. What, too busy to type it even once?)
Or is it a cult of self-loathing, where these folks hate their names so much they can’t stand to see it in print? 😉
Chime in and pile on or, perhaps, defend yourself and educate
I admit I’ve become ‘-R’, but the main reason is just pure lazyness and the fact that nobody reads your name anyway. It’s just extra typing for no reason.
– R
Why not put your name in as part of your signature and skip writing it entirely?
eh, sigs take up extra room. brevity FTW.
I think that this comment just highlights exactly why I don’t sign my name with a single letter or initial. The people who do this are doing it because they think they it makes them seem more important or wish to “brand themselves.” It comes off as douchey/cocky and misses the mark. Same as punctuating phrases and using unnecessary acronyms: “brevity FTW.”
Why? For example, I could have a signature that is just:
Actually, I sometimes don’t “sign” the email at all. I do if I’m saying something as I close (like, Thanks, or Love…) but often I don’t. Maybe it serves as an “EOM” type marker, and people are just used to writing less and less if they can – blame SMS for that one.
I’ve been signing mine as “-e” for a long time now, but only when I’m familiar with the person. It isn’t about it being an “in” thing.
I want to stress the familiarity. Somehow signing “Eric” or “Eric Cheng” seems … formal.
I’ve been “signing off” as dvg for as long as I can remember. I’m talking 15+ years. (My full name is in my signature already.)
FWIW, I sign postcards and anything else handwritten as Dg usually, too.
I have no idea why. I actually love my name.
Your loyal readers know that you’re now on the much slower EDGE network instead of EVDO, and are just trying to save you bandwith speed.
Eric – interesting to hear your reasoning, thanks.
dvg – if your full name is already in the sig, why do you feel initials or some sort of “sign-off” is needed beyond that? And why not have that be automatically added as part of the sig? Honestly curious here.
Brett – nice. 😉 Actually, I’ve never had EVDO on a device that gets e-mail. My Treo 600 wasn’t capable.
I honestly don’t know why I sign emails as “emn” — and only at work, really. Just one of those email tics, I guess.
I can say that it’s “emn” vs “e” because I grew up as one of three “en”s, so the m is just part of how I initial stuff.
I’m with Eric that initials feel less formal the a full name (or a full first name). So, you’re probably right about it signaling a less formal relationship between the two people. Where signatures to me have always indicated an extremely formal relationship.
Best Regards,
jt
Plus – I suppose more of my options are open, ’cause I’m on EVDO or RCN 🙂
If it’s an in-thing, I haven’t noticed.
For the record, I’ve been doing this for at least seven years; the only reason that I know it’s been that long is that I had to unlearn signing as GFM at the office [when I really don’t think that being so brief is all that professional, although I do sign internal emails with initials].
[I probably have a vastly different reason for doing this than most, though.]
b/c sog has a nice ring to it 😉
I’ll chime in with a few of the others and say that I do it as an informal method of ending my message. For online-only ‘friends’ I’ll often use ‘-JM’ but for my closest friends and co-workers, it’s often just ‘-j’
I wouldn’t sign things like that, but I’ve made the same observation.
In my use of it, yes.
I would never sign anything formal that way. And I don’t really sign any emails that I send out unsolicited to people that way. So, if I’m contacting the person for the first time – as in, this is not an email in the middle of a back and forth that has been going on – I always sign with at least my full first name.
I usually sign an initial in the middle of an exchange of emails, because I like closing with a sig but it seems repetitive. So if we’re going back and forth it makes sense to announce the end of the email in a cursory fashion.
– J
I have been signing my work related emails as “CP” for about a year now, and as a result, I am now known as “CP”. Nobody calls me “Chris” anymore.
I did originally do it because it’s the “in” thing. That’s the #1 reason I do anything.
Signature is about a SIGN. If i put “-rc” in my signature, it means two things. One is my unique sign and the other is my name abbreviation. Just that. It’s not a big deal.
Hmm, I’m not sure how :scare: unique :/scare: “-rc” is. 😉
since most of the time i’m emailing from some kind of mobile device, i’ve gotten used to signing like this.
lorem blah blah.
e
—
eric alba
the dashes and name below are the automatic signature, so people can decipher the single, informal e above.
if i know the person really well, they’re lucky if they get punctuation. let alone the shift key.
e
I’m not sure if I understand the value of the ‘e’ here…
I hate it. Despise it. To the point of googling it, and feeling quite personally satisfied that I found a blog about it.
To indicate how foolish I think it is, when I reply to those messages I ususally begin my response with their initial in quotes…
“E”,
thank you shawn! and thank you alex!
i HATE it too. And no, I do NOT think it implies informality. I hate my professors (i do love them) when they use such initials. I am at a loss. Do I address them by their first name or use prof. last name? If anyone is informal WHY would they use the first letter of the last name as well?
Obviously, the initials are only a MARK and really mean the ENTIRE name. How lame! Someone once signed as dja, and another as sp, and yet another as RD and i wanted to say : Hello R chaic.
Basically, it is a subtle form of arrogance, conceit and narcissism. Look out for the correlation. If someone sends you an email and then just signs it with a single letter, ask yourself whether they are a bit up their own harris. They probably are.
I hate it too. A good example would be college professors, as mentioned above. Tony Blair signed his memos ‘T’. Maybe it meant ‘tw*t’ though.
Everybody stop it please.
It is common practice to sign memos with initials because the name of the author is in the heading. The email is analogues of inter organizational memos.
Emails are not a substitute for formal business communication.
OK, so I totally do this, and I even googled a few keywords to see if I could find a discussion on it. I’m also totally willing to own up to why I do it (because no one else here seems to be, despite their eloquent justifications).
I mean honestly, how is signing E-mails with just an initial a sign of closeness? Do your best friends call you by just an initial? Does your family?
“Wake up, M! I cooked you some eggs and sausage!”
And forget automatic signatures, who here can’t type their own first name in three seconds or less? And if you were actually close to the person, wouldn’t it make more sense not to sign the letter at all and assume they would recognize your e-mail address?
HERE’S WHY I SIGN MY LETTERS WITH JUST AN INITIAL:
Because it’s cool. It looks cool, and I like feeling cool, and I’m OK with liking feeling cool.
Consider these famous examples of people being referred to by just initials:
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black.
M and Q in the James Bond films.
Mr. T
Zorro
Need I continue further?
Rather, I have a question to pose to the rest of you: If doing something stupid like signing your name with an initial or wearing sunglasses indoors makes you feel better, then what’s the harm?
Why do we feel the need to give a hard reality check to anyone we see with the gall to actually imagine that they could be as cool as we all wish we were?
I once heard about a guy who liked to kneel while taking his morning shower and stand up slowly, humming the theme of The Terminator to himself. I think that’s kickass.
Well, where I work it is done all the time. No one has actually said it out loud, but I can only gather that it is a sign of respect and status. Very strange. I ignore it because I think it’s silly.
To me, that is why we use salutations and last names. Call me old school.
Completely annoying…
Anyone who signs their emails with initials are instantly viewed as pretentious.
I’ll take some pointers from here and start addressing emails to their initials, and addressing them that way verbally also.
I’d like to join the haters camp on the initial thing. I found it so gratifying that someone above just flat out said “Hate it”. Like another poster, I can’t believe I even googled it, let alone found a discussion on it. My boss does it, and we are a small (3 person ) organization…we are very friendly with each other in person, and often in emails. When I get short, business like emails from her signed “SB” it drives me nuts, feels like she’s really exercising her alpha status. Could be my imagination. I can have a chip on my shoulder about such things. Sometimes my good friend does it. I marvel at the fact that I take offense at such a simple thing, but to me it feels very formal. I was interested to hear that folks see it as informal. I always feel like signing my name (not my first and last, just my first) implies more intimacy.
one letter sign-offs are not cool. anyone that does it is just an idiot. lazy. i would rather people not put anything at all.
when i become president of the world, one letter sign-offs will be banned, alongside smoking and mayonnaise.
I think it is completely pretentious and
off – putting. Anyone who protests
ignorance to this obvious reaction is not fooling me.
Hi, Dr. Professor type here. We sign emails with initials because we have to straddle the line between American sensibilities about egalitarianism with our status as credentialed professionals. For instance, if I sign my email “Dr. Doe”, then the recipient will probably think, “Gee, thanks for throwing your Ph.D. in my face, Dr. Self-Important Doofus.”
That’s right, even though it took me years of hard work and poverty to earn it, if I even imply that I’d rather be called “Doctor”, then I’ve violated a very American sense of social equality. You know, the kind that lets everyone who works at Disney call each other by their first name even though the CEO makes roughly 300x that of the lowest-paid employee and can probably have them destroyed if so inclined.
However, if I sign my email “John”, especially when communicating with a student, then I’ve become overly familiar with them. So signing my emails with “jd” is a tidy way of sidestepping that dilemma. It’s not to appear snotty, but rather to avoid doing so while also avoiding the kind of familiarity that makes giving out F’s on exams that much more difficult.
I hate it. At first I thought it was kind of cool and such, and I would understand, if say my professor or PhD sponsor or Supervisor would do it…
BUT I also notice it being used by people who, incidentally, happen to have a high and respected status in society. If they have nothing to do with me (and usually they don’t, I don’t depend on them or anything), it absolutely puts me off. I view it as arrogant and rude, and I’ll take some pointers from the people here, when I reply… I will make it a point to address them with just their initial.
I do it at work because my full name is already in my email. So, I use the old school memo format to avoid rewriting my name when that is already available. I don’t do it from email accounts that don’t have my full name.
I googled it at work and am surprised that it is considered pretentious. My other option would be to avoid a sign-off together.
There’s a woman in my husband’s office who, when writing emails, uses her full christian name with most people but invariably signs off her emails to my husband with just her initial. I find this annoying and flirtatious and over friendly!!
So I am the poster above, and I have changed sides. My close friends and I call each other M, J, P, for fun, out of love. Fine.
My worry was always the first name last name combo. Why do professors use it? Are they being informal or formal? I couldn’t tell. I was at a loss.
Now I am teaching. And I don’t want my students to call me by my first name — i guess I am insecure i won’t be respected coz i am relatively young. And to imply that i am “official” and senior, i use the initial. 🙂 😀 Only, I wish there was an alternative. I still feel iffy about it.
well – I too hate it. I find that if I clump all the people who practice this type of self-expression – I find the following patterns:
– insecure about their power to exert influence on others
– don’t feel they are respected as they should be (godfather wanna-b’s)
– want desperately to be noticed, even if for just a little bit
– are profoundly self-absorbed in some way
– are usually WOMEN!
At first I started noticing this and didn’t think much of it. I have always been bothered by it for some reason and could necver really figure it out. Then I started looking at the types of coworkers who were doing this and found a certain pattern. They are mostly all DB’s! Now I can safely say it is just a stupid fad and people who are starting to do it because they saw someone else do it and thought it was cool are the ones who ruin it. There may be some logical reasons for some people to justify doing it, but for the most part people are just trying to be cool and when you can see through that it makes them look dumb instead.
I concur with most commenters here in that I’m amazed I found this discussion, and I appreciate everyone’s honesty, despite their opinion. Healthy discussion.
I very much dislike the use of signing an email with one initial (-t) or several (hgt) in two basic scenarios:
* At work: interestingly, only one person does at work, and it’s a female, but I don’t think the female thing is interesting alone, it more has to do with the person, (I’m female and I hate it), and also I happen to not think too highly of her anyway so I’m not surprised she signs like that.
*significant others: I’m surprised no one brought up significant others. this is the hardest one to admit for me, since my serious boyfriend/partner does it. I think it is immature and pretentious. The worst part is, if we are arguing, or he only wants to send me a quick link or quick response to an email, and he doesn’t want to use my nickname (Kimi) or any number of pet names he has for me, he just signs -j. I cannot stand it. It’s rude to someone you love, even in haste or in anger if we are working through issues. Don’t send me a spreadsheet of our financials that I begged you to edit, and then sign it -j. I’m your freaking girlfriend!
Sounds terrible, but I do agree that if you sign an email like this you are:
pretentious (I find most professors are extremely arrogant, interesting a lot of folks mentioned professors)
arrogant
trying to look cool
lazy
*immature*
Thanks for the lively discussion, everyone.
Kim
This can be cultural too. You write mostly about business communication, but keep in mind that some people have a totally opposite intend than being bossy. This verdict is not set in stone, or not yet. Or maybe ask people who sign with initials what they mean? Why assume they are arrogant, maybe they want to be the opposite.
As internet is international: there are also cultural differences. For example you write with a woman, lets say form Eastern Europe, lets say Czechoslovakia. She may first sign with first and last name, when friendship grows it will be the first name, and than an initial as a sign of real friendliness, can mean humbleness most likely. Surprised? An American guy may think she became bossy, but for her it can be just like saying more demure “I like you,” if you are a guy feel complemented, she feels safe with you, or as a friend she feels good with you too. It is more on the submissive side, not the bossy, and you may find women doing it more, specially when the friendship grows. Just wanted to give it example how relative things can be in more informal ways. It can be more about personal choices than asserting some pecking order.
As net etiquette is still evolving to some extend, please, don’t jump to hasty conclusions, or it is like reading too much into someone’s body language. Sometimes things are obvious, sometimes not so. In case of doubt, ask questions before assuming not very good intentions, such as being arrogant, for example. Ask what this signifies, and you will be given wider range of answers than covered in this comment section. Who decided that initials are bossy? maybe yes, maybe not. Is this such social agreement as it seems? I don’t think so.
Guys! How does that actually matter? It’s the content of email which is meant for reading and signature are owned by writer and I agree it might reflects his/her persons individual personality..but we should not be judgemental about this. It’s his/her wish how they wants to sign and a totally personal choice..Isn’t it?
This annoys me so much I did a google search for it and found your site as the #1 result.
To me, it’s a sign of pure laziness and just one small additional step toward incivility this world has been moving to for the past 40 years.
It matters because it tells the receiver they not worth the extra time it takes to type a friendly “farewell” signature. The same could be said for not including a salutation at the beginning of an email.
It’s the little things that matter.
In some sense, the degradation of communication etiquette is a plus for me. I can stand out and make a good impression more easily and without much additional effort.