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initials Initials for Personal Names

Initial(s) for the surname or the given names of a person.

Usage/Remarks

Initials are recorded for purposes of searching or ease of conversion for applications that require initials rather than full names.
This attribute is optional and need not be used by organizations that do not ordinarily record a contributor’s initials. The intent is to provide a place to preserve the initials for publishers who do determine the person’s initials editorially and then record that in their data, so this intellectual effort will not be lost.

Best Practice

This attribute is particularly useful in those cases in which a person’s initials cannot be determined algorithmically, i.e., a program cannot determine the initials of a given name due to the number, arrangement, or complexity of the name components. (See the examples listed below.)
In most of the examples below, displayed content is shown as element content, and search content (without punctuation) is shown as attribute content. A given publisher may choose to handle punctuation differently. 
<surname initials="Q">Llanos De La Torre Quiralte</surname>   
<given-names initials="M">M</given-names>    

<surname initials="U">Usdin</surname>   
<given-names initials="BT">B. Tommie</given-names>

<surname initials="GM" >Gonzalez Martin</surname>   
<given-names initials="J">Josquin</given-names>    

<surname initials="M">McNair</surname>   
<given-names initials="KPC">Kenneth Pritchard Carnu</given-names>    

<surname initials="B">Ben Gurion</surname>   
<given-names initials="D">David</given-names>    

<surname initials="B">Ben-Gurion</surname>   
<given-names initials="D">David</given-names>    

<surname initials="M">de la Mare</surname>   
<given-names initials="WJ">Walter John</given-names>                

<surname initials="D" >Di Iorio</surname>   
<given-names initials="S">Silvio</given-names>

<surname initials="T">Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, de</surname>   
<given-names initials="H">Henri Marie Raymond</given-names>

<surname initials="L">Lewis</surname>   
<given-names initials="CS">CS</given-names>

<surname initials="L">Lewis</surname>   
<given-names initials="CS">C.S.</given-names>
OPTIONAL on elements: <given-names>, <surname>
Value Meaning
Text, numbers, or special characters The initial letters of a person’s names.
Restriction @initials is an optional attribute; there is no default.
Tagged Sample

Preserving initials for authors’ names (both given names and surnames), possibly for searching purposes 

...
<contrib-group>
 <contrib contrib-type="author">
  <name><surname initials="L">Lawrence</surname>
   <given-names initials="SP">Sharon Peniston</given-names>
  </name></contrib>
 <contrib contrib-type="author" equal-contrib="no">
  <name><surname initials="M">Miller</surname>
   <given-names initials="DB">Donna Bunch</given-names>
  </name></contrib>
</contrib-group>
...