Should Jane Doe, BM PhD read BM as a credential, not the given name? #1323

On master, a two-letter capitals word that opens the part after the comma is read as the given name's initials, even when a full name stands before the comma:

parse("Jane Doe, BM PhD")       given 'BM', family 'Jane Doe', suffix 'PhD'
parse("Jane Doe, BM")           given 'BM', family 'Jane Doe'
parse("Jane Doe, XY PhD")       given 'XY', family 'Jane Doe', suffix 'PhD'
parse("Jane Doe, AO DSc MD")    given 'AO', family 'Jane Doe', suffix 'DSc MD'
parse("Jane Doe, MA BM FRCP")   given 'MA', family 'Jane Doe', suffix 'FRCP'
parse("Jane Doe, XYZ PhD")      given 'Jane', family 'Doe', suffix 'XYZ PhD'

BM (Bachelor of Medicine) and AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) are credentials that no vocabulary file lists. A three-letter unlisted word (XYZ) reads as a credential through the capitals shape, but a two-letter one reads as initials. The other rows are the same shape: a name with two words before the comma, then a part whose first word is an unlisted word of two capitals and whose later words are listed credentials.

It surfaced in #1321 (closes #1315). Listing FRCP, MRCP and FRCA took away an accident: an unlisted FRCP at the end of Jane Doe, BM PhD FRCP made the whole part read as a credential run by shape, which kept BM a suffix. With FRCP listed, the run is judged by the vocabulary and BM falls out. Measured against master over ClinicalTrials.gov's study officials (2026-11-10), 16 names went from right to wrong: 13 runs opening with BM, 2 with MA BM and 1 with AO.

Proposal. When a FULL name stands before the comma and the part after it opens with a word of two capitals that no list holds, followed by words the vocabulary lists as credentials, read the run as the credential run. Kumar, BM, a one-word surname before the comma, stays read as initials, which is the shape the reading exists for.

Because. The initials reading is right for Kumar, BM and Doe, JP, where the comma marks a surname and a given name. With two name words before the comma there is less room for a surname-first reading, and a credential run behind the capitals is the signal.

Not a vocabulary fix. Listing bm was tried in #1321 and declined: the acronym fold removes full stops, so it also lists B.M., which Nepal's candidates write as surname initials (rules/S3, #864). Measured against master it fixed 15 ClinicalTrials.gov runs and moved 6 Nepal candidates and 5 ORCID names where BM is a family-name initial (Avinash BM) to a suffix, with the family name lost. ao has Census 2010 and SSA name readings and would need the ambiguous marking.

Open questions.

• Which rule decides the initials reading today, and does a one-word head (Doe, BM PhD) need the same treatment? I haven't traced it.
• Does a part with no credential behind it (Jane Doe, BM) stay initials? Whether Jane Doe, XY reads as a given name is the same question.
• Jane Doe BM, with no comma, reads family BM. That is a different path, and I haven't looked at it.

Related: #1315, #1321, #1238.