To understand abbreviations for names

[shawnnjh]

Hello,

I'm intrigued by names with abbreviation e.g. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Through personal perspective, it's posh; however, i'm unsure of the proper use of it.

Do i use it for the first or surname?
Well, I've been pondering over my name of, Shawn Ng Jun Hwee, how should i be attacking this?
My first name is, Shawn.
Surname will be, Ng.
With my chinese name of, Jun Hwee.

Please do advise, thank you.

 

[JMurray]

The "D" in Franklin D. Roosevelt is called an initial, it's the initial or first letter of his middle name Delano. People use initials in their names for many different reasons. Perhaps they want to distinguish themselves from others with a similar common name (eg John T. Brown), or from others in their family (George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush), or maybe they just like the way it sounds or looks. It could also be the first name (L. Ron Hubbard) or both first names (P. T. Barnum). So there's no "proper" way to do this, people can decide for themselves. But my feeling is that unless there is a tradition of using initials in names in your native language, it might not be suitable for you.

not a teacher