Anonymous wrote:Because they are tired.

This. I don’t post on Facebook but use first initial in messaging because I know the person I am texting with or sharing photo’s with knows exactly who L stands for. Do same thing when speaking about spouse.

Anonymous wrote:So glad I got off facebook before it became 90% 40 year old moms and their moms.

You realize the 40 year old moms have been using Facebook since they were 25 and thus acceptably young.

I don’t do this but I know several people who do and I think it is shorthand not for privacy since they sometimes use both full and first letter. I used to only see this when the first letter was actually the child’s nickname(like E for Ethan or T for Tiana) but now I see everyone do it.

I do this for my second child much more than my first- second has a long name with no nickname in use, 1st uses a three letter nickname.
It’s just laziness.
I use it in texts to family most often, occasionally have used it when emailing with her brownie troop or something like that, but it is always clear who I mean.

I didn't post my kid's name on social media until she was old enough to understand "stranger danger". I have social media friends who I don't know that well.

I refer to kids of friends by first initial in case they prefer that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in casual handwritten correspondence have done this through out history. It’s nothing new.

. +1. “Swann was often seen dining late in the afternoon with Mme. D—- and Mlle. P——— enjoying lightly fried tuna”

Proust! “Swann in Love”.

Also, don't y'all refer to your SO or kids by their first initial in person, even? Maybe sometimes? I know DH and I call each other "S" and "T" a lot-- I mean, out loud. It's a pretty common behavior.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in casual handwritten correspondence have done this through out history. It’s nothing new.

+1

+2 but even moreso now, when we have the habit of dashing off quick texts with our thumbs and using shorthand/acronyms.

I remember my BFF asking what baby names we had picked when I was pregnant-- she knew I wasn't telling anyone the names (as she hadn't), but wondered if we had chosen a different initial for the kid than either DH or I had-- "to keep things organized/simplify (whatever)." I didn't think that way-- if DD had been a boy, his name would have had the same first initial as DH-- but I kind of knew what she meant. She ended up choosing a different first initial for her second child, so they are Q, P, X and R. I mean, that makes her sound like she put waaaaaay more uptight planning into it than she really did, but I kind of get it.

So she definitely does that in correspondence, and in her family it's totally clear if she says, "We got Q a bunch of books at the library." But it's not a privacy thing-- she uses an initial for her husband, too.

On the other hand, I know families who not only use the same initial for everyone/more than one kid, but give them super-similar names. Think Larla and Larna. Anyway!

I do it because my kids name is long and I cant be bothered to type it every single time.

It isn’t privacy. If so those people wouldn’t be on Facebook. It’s lazy phone typing.

Anonymous wrote:People in casual handwritten correspondence have done this through out history. It’s nothing new.

. +1. “Swann was often seen dining late in the afternoon with Mme. D—- and Mlle. P——— enjoying lightly fried tuna”

It's faster and a little privacy. If I post a picture and not the full name it's just a little harder for the data collection algorithm to get it.

I use both L and Larla when writing about my kid whether that’s on Facebook or in a text/email. I’ll text DH and say “don’t forget L has gymnastics after school” but sometimes I say “Larla needs to be picked up from Katie’s.”

At work we do this too. Sometimes I write “Steve is taking the lead” and other times I say “check in with SJ before submitting.” It has nothing to do with privacy—just convenience. Why is this weird to you?