Should JP Smith match John Paul Smith? An undotted pair of capitals reads as one given name, so the pair conflicts where J.P. Smith matches #1351

Measured on master 970b54e, 2026-11-11, Parser().matching().check:

The parser reads JP as one given word, so the match never sees two initials. The outcome is not transitive: JP matches J. P., and J. P. matches John Paul, but JP does not match John Paul. #1264's table listed only the dotted J.P. Smith, which it settled.

How often (2026-11-11): a script counted two-word names across the 16 local corpora, excluding names written wholly in capitals.

• 2,013 names read XY Smith with given XY and no middle, where XY is 2–3 capital letters followed by a capitalized word: orcid-researchers 1,295, jrc-names 571, ctgov-officials 114, patentsview-inventors 26, ukec-individuals 5, nepal-candidates 2.
• For comparison, 3,160 are written X. Y. Smith.
• Only 812 of the 2,013 (373 distinct words) hold no vowel, which is an upper bound on how many are plainly initials.
• The rest collide with names written in capitals: LI, MA, KIM, LEE, WU (surnames written first in capitals), and ALI, BOB, IAN, TIM, SAM, ED, AL, MD (Muhammad). Shape alone cannot decide them.

Options:

• (A) In the match only:
  • When: the given word is 2–3 capital letters with no vowel, in a name not written wholly in capitals, and the other side has a given name.
  • Then: the word's letters are compared as initials against the other side's given and middle names, in order, and the row reads initial.
  • Because: writing initials without stops is common in bylines and registries, and the match already reads JP against J. P.
  • Accepted: a vowel-less given name written in capitals, or a consonant-only Chinese or Korean romanization in capitals (e.g. NG), reads as initials.
• (B) In the parser: read such a word as initials, so given/middle hold J/P. This belongs with Should Armitage JO read family 'Armitage'? A surname followed by initials, with no comma, reads the initials as the family name #1137 (Armitage JO), which asks the same question of the family slot, and moves parse output.
• (C) Leave it. A caller can normalize first, and the asymmetry is documented in docs/matching.rst.

Open:

1. A, B or C, and if A, is "no vowel" the right gate? Y counts as a vowel in the figures above.
2. Should a three-letter run map to given plus two middles, or should a caller's check require the other side to have that many given and middle names?
3. Do the keys need an XY form so the key guarantee holds under (A)? Today JP Smith is keyed by jp, not j.

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