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First Name + Initial Quiz

These famous people are commonly known by a first name and an initial. Guess their last names.
Includes two fictional characters
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 1, 2020
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First submittedMarch 16, 2011
Times taken49,281
Average score59.3%
Rating3.99
4:00
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First + Initial
Last Name
Harry S.
Truman
George W.
Bush
Robert E.
Lee
Samuel L.
Jackson
F. Scott
Fitzgerald
Edward R.
Murrow
Cecil B.
DeMille
Hunter S.
Thompson
Warren G.
Harding
First + Initial
Last Name
Susan B.
Anthony
Michael J.
Fox
George C.
Scott
James K.
Polk
Mary J.
Blige
Booker T.
Washington
Craig T.
Nelson
John F.
Kennedy
Ulysses S.
Grant
First + Initial
Last Name
Dwight D.
Eisenhower
J. Edgar
Hoover
H. Ross
Perot
Pearl S.
Buck
M. Night
Shyamalan
L. Ron
Hubbard
Philip K.
Dick
Alex P.
Keaton
Homer J.
Simpson
81 Comments
+1
Level ∞
Sep 24, 2013
Updated and expanded!
+1
Level 34
Mar 21, 2023
uehrgfhgksuh
+9
Level 28
Oct 2, 2013
George C. could also be George C. Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the Army during WWII
+3
Level 85
Nov 14, 2013
That was my first guess as well.
+3
Level 68
Nov 14, 2013
same here
+7
Level 75
Oct 28, 2016
I was tempted to try Looney
+1
Level 89
Nov 24, 2019
Ah...almost didn't get that comment.
+1
Level 73
May 28, 2018
Yeah! Definitely!
+1
Level 91
Oct 25, 2013
With two mentions, it seems like a no-brainer that this should have a picture of Michael J. Fox at the top.
+2
Level 85
Jan 9, 2017
I'm betting it's much harder to find a picture of Fox not subject to copyrights, than a picture of a long-dead president.
+2
Level 90
Nov 1, 2013
I was thinking Samuel L. Clemens!
+10
Level 78
Nov 14, 2013
I have had it with these mother#$%#@ frogs in this mother#$%*# county!!!!
+2
Level 60
Nov 14, 2013
That's basically the best thing I've read on here all day.
+3
Level 89
Nov 24, 2019
Nice one, Pearl S.
+1
Level 69
Nov 14, 2013
I was too.
+1
Level 17
Nov 14, 2013
Hmmm... A lot of women in this quiz.
+2
Level 74
Jun 1, 2017
Yeah, a whopping three. I guess most of us don't use initials.
+1
Level 74
Jan 29, 2019
prominent women mustn't be as pretentious
+1
Level 57
Jan 20, 2021
Is JK Rowling a pen name? Shes super famous
+1
Level 83
Mar 15, 2021
^As far as I recall she used initials specifically to disguise the fact that she was a woman
+1
Level 49
Nov 15, 2013
Several presidents on here...what about Rutherford B. Hayes?
+1
Level 34
Nov 15, 2013
i thought it was just warren g
+1
Level 76
Jun 1, 2017
warren g. funk-era
+1
Level 58
Nov 15, 2013
How is Philip K Dick the lowest?!?! He was only one of the best sci-fi writers ever. The movies Total Recall, Blade Runner, The Adjustment Bureau, Minority Report, Next, A Scanner Darkly, and Paycheck were all based on his works.
+1
Level 48
May 11, 2014
I agree!
+1
Level 74
Jun 1, 2017
Of the movies you mentioned, I've only heard of Total Recall and Blade Runner and I've never seen those. Different genres for different folks.
+1
Level 76
Aug 31, 2019
I've heard of most of them and watched the movies, and I got his name right, but I had no idea who he was.
+2
Level 44
Nov 15, 2013
Who the heck is "Alex P. Keaton"???? Got them all but him, whoever he is!
+1
Level 74
Jun 1, 2017
He was a character on the sitcom, "Family Ties".
+1
Level 57
Jan 12, 2014
samuel l. jackson could be samuel l. mitchill the physician and politician from new york
+2
Level 36
May 25, 2017
And I bet at least 90% of the quiz takers would have the foggiest idea of who he is, and thus identify him! - Get real, or ask Scotty

to beam you up.

+3
Level 28
May 7, 2014
Petty pedantry:

The "S" in Ulysses S Grant does not stand for anything, so the period should be removed...

+1
Level 48
May 11, 2014
I think you mean Truman.
+2
Level 45
Aug 8, 2014
No, because Ulysses S Grant was originally Hiram Ulysses Grant(yes, his initials were HUG), but somebody accidentally messed up his name as Ulysses S Grant, and he decided to keep that to help his campaign, because now his initials were USG, and that could be United States, or Uncle Sam, anything but HUG. So the S really doesn't stand for anything.
+1
Level 76
Jun 1, 2017
I don't know about Grant, but I thought that Truman added the "S" to sound more presidential. (And thus, not standing for anything, it read Harry S Truman.) (But now I just did a little checking, and while it stood for nothing, he usually signed his name S-dot. So I don't know.)
+4
Level 81
Jul 8, 2018
Hiram Ulysses Grant became Ulysses S. Grant due to a typographical error. The S came from his mother's maiden name Simpson. Harry S. Truman's middle name was just "S."- it wasn't to sound more presidential that's what he was actually named. Both of his grandfathers had "S" names and it was meant to honor them both.
+2
Level 66
Feb 28, 2019
kalb is right on both counts here.
+3
Level 67
Sep 25, 2014
When I came to 'James K', my initial thought was, of course, the famous New Zealand poet of the mid 20th century, James K Baxter, who is always regarded with the initial, making him a suitable candidate for this quiz. When I typed him in I was not wrong, I just picked the wrong James K. I think this should therefore be removed from the quiz to avoid further confusion.
+2
Level 67
Sep 25, 2014
By the way, James K Baxter is an awesome poet. Would recommend any of his work; Ballad of Calvary Street, Maori Jesus, Wild bees, On the death of her body, the list goes on.
+1
Level 76
Feb 10, 2015
I also tried James K Baxter and blanked on anything else. Maybe allow two answers there (or 2 boxes?)
+1
Level 75
Apr 9, 2015
I was just thinking of Robert E. Howard and typing it over and over again and thinking there was a bug or something. Then it turned out it was another guy entirely. :(
+1
Level 65
Sep 16, 2015
Wasn't Fry on Futurama Phillip K ?
+2
Level 67
Nov 4, 2015
No, I think he was Philip J Fry.
+1
Level 68
Dec 13, 2015
Micheal I fox the j is made up his middle name is in fact andrew
+4
Level 84
Jan 11, 2016
Shouldn't Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. and the MG's fame) also work?
+1
Level 65
Jun 11, 2019
First one I thought of. He was legendary!
+3
Level 63
Jan 15, 2016
For some reason I always thought M. Night Shyamalan was M. Night Shamalayan.
+1
Level 74
Jun 1, 2017
I appreciated the extra type-ins on that one. I finally came up with one that worked.
+1
Level 80
Mar 5, 2016
Thought Cecil B. referred to Moore, as in the Philadelphia train station.
+2
Level 87
Mar 31, 2016
Kept typing Patton for George C. Somehow got the man and his most famous role mixed.
+1
Level 55
Jun 6, 2016
Marshall ought to be accepted for George C. (as in the chief of staff of the US army during WWII)
+3
Level 72
Jul 10, 2016
This messed with me- I kept subconsciously thinking that the initial stood for the surname. No fault of the quiz though- decent idea.
+1
Level 74
Dec 14, 2016
The first thing I tried for Mary J. was Watson...as in, you know, spider-man. Was a bit dissapointed
+1
Level 60
Jan 31, 2017
I kept trying Murray for Edward r!
+1
Level 89
Nov 24, 2019
Maybe his rival Howard K. Smith can be in part 2.
+3
Level 75
Mar 6, 2017
Glad to see Coach make the cut !!!
+6
Level 44
Jun 1, 2017
Quite a few US presidents, don't ya think?
+1
Level 60
Jan 11, 2018
Would just like to say that I thought of Francis Scott Key first. I did get it eventually.
+3
Level 78
Jan 28, 2019
If it makes you feel any better, that's who F. Scott Fitzgerald was named after. Key was his second cousin, three times removed on his father's side.
+1
Level 85
Jan 27, 2018
No James K Baxter? Never heard of Polt before, although that could be because I'm not American.
+1
Level 45
Jun 1, 2018
Mary J Blige, I would like you to meet James K Polk.
+2
Level 66
Jul 8, 2018
The S in Harry S Truman actually doesn't stand for anything. It isn't an initial for a name.
+1
Level 81
Jul 8, 2018
Never heard of Pearl Buck
+1
Level 56
May 8, 2019
She sounds like an author, but I'm not 100% sure
+2
Level 73
Sep 24, 2020
First American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature!
+1
Level 55
Aug 25, 2018
Yank Alex Keaton & Homer Simpson out of the quiz; except for them all names are actual people. They don't belong.
+2
Level 72
Jul 11, 2019
why not?
+1
Level 89
Nov 24, 2019
Some conspiracy nuts say George W. Bush isn't a person, but a lizard.
+1
Level 55
Jan 28, 2019
Yeah Keaton and Simpson! You gotta have some fun SgtMac. Smile man...
+1
Level 77
Feb 28, 2019
For Robert E. Lee, all I could think of was Robert (Bob) E. Lee Ewell from To Kill A Mockingbird
+1
Level 59
Feb 28, 2019
There's a Danish rapper called L:Ron:Harald...
+1
Level 36
Feb 10, 2024
Which is why no one has heard of him.
+1
Level 68
May 30, 2019
Accept "Carver" for "Bush?"
+1
Level 91
Apr 14, 2021
I'm just saying Michael J. would also work for Michael Joseph Jackson
+1
Level 36
Feb 10, 2024
Except that nobody uses his middle name.
+1
Level 70
Jun 28, 2021
I'm thinking a couple more people could have been added such as Michael B. Jordan or John D. Rockefeller
+1
Level 91
Apr 14, 2022
Also George M. Cohan and John C. Calhoun
+1
Level 81
Jun 16, 2022
As a Philadelphian, definitely think Moore should be accepted for Cecil B.
+1
Level 83
Feb 24, 2023
No James T. Kirk?

This nerd is sad.

+1
Level 86
May 2, 2023
So by "Famous people" we actually mean "Famous Americans"
+1
Level 36
Feb 10, 2024
Please be a little more forgiving with the spelling of M. Night's last name.