A reader named Julie is expecting a baby boy in several months. She and her husband would like to name the baby Samuel Otis, but doing so would give him the initials SOS. They are casual sailors, and they are wondering if SOS might seem like a joke. Julie writes:
My husband and I don’t feel like it’s a big deal, but an outside perspective would be appreciated.
SOS is certainly not the worst set of initials out there (SUK is far worse, for instance). But I think I would try for a different set of initials nonetheless.
There are 26 letters that could be used for the first initial, 26 that could be used for the middle initial. That’s 676 possible combinations. Some of those combinations have positive connotations, some have negative connotations, and the hundreds in between are relatively neutral. If there are some positive and many neutral options available, why go with something negative?
And the fact that two people who like to sail would give their child initials that happen to match an international maritime distress signal? That could indeed open the door for jokes (aimed at both the child and the parents). Again, other scenarios would be worse–a guy who owns a septic tank company giving his kid the initials POO, for instance–but if the potential for teasing exists, and it’s avoidable, why risk it?
But maybe I’m being too cautious. I think we’d all agree that SUK and POO are bad, but SOS might sound cute to some. (Maybe because of that sailing connection, who knows.) What’s your take?
Samuel Otis is a very nice name! very! So nice that I’d go for it, even though normally, I’d avoid S.O.S.
I think it’s a little endearing, to be honest, and Samuel Otis is to die for!
I really like both names as well, and I think Samuel Otis is a nice combination.
I wonder if Julie has considered flipping them around to make Otis Samuel. I can’t think of any drawbacks to the initials O.S.S. (Then again, Otis would flow right into Samuel because of those s-sounds. That might not be too desirable.)
I should mention that the surname starts with an sh-sound, so Otis and the surname wouldn’t blend together if they were placed side-by-side.
My first has initials that spell SEW and it hasn’t been a problem (I’m an avid quilter and church linen creator and so forth). And SEW isn’t any big deal. My initials when I got married, though, became BBW, which stands for “Big Beautiful Women” which is easily google-able to find out what that means. So I’ve added back in my first name and now I’m SBBW which isn’t much better. Once I realized this (it took me 10 years to realize it), I made sure my other kids names didn’t create something annoying. The closest is my son’s, which is ELCW, which almost becomes a Lutheran Church but not quite.
So, that said, SOS would be way preferable to BBW, let me tell you. Otis should definitely be considered. It might bring some amused glances (if people ever figure it out–it was me who realized the BBW thing, not a friend or relative!).
NO… I would go S.O.S before O.S.S– not sure about other parts of the country, but where I live O.S.S. is Out of School Suspension. Every kid here knows and recognizes the bad connotations to that…
I don’t think SOS is horrible. If they feel strongly about Samuel Otis, then I don’t think the initials are enough to change the tide, so to speak. And, he can always just use the initials S.S. if he tires of any teasing.
O.S.S. was the predecessor of the C.I.A.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Strategic_Services
Thanks for the opinions, everyone!
Looks like I’m in the minority, so I think Julie would be better off listening to you guys than to me. :)
Julie has written a blog post about her son, Samuel Otis. (Yup, S.O.S.!) Here’s what she had to say about his initials:
Here’s more on the middle initial:
(This is the tricky thing about posting name suggestions, btw. I get a few details about the situation, but I’m never fully informed. I didn’t know that the “O” had special significance to Julie, for instance. If I’d known, the post probably would have been a bit different.)
Congrats, Julie!