What kind of abbreviations are "Bee Gees", "Eminem", etc?

Question

The "Bee Gees" is actually a stylised expansion of the initials BGs, which in turn refers to initials of Barry Gibb, DJ Bill Gates and Bill Goode (or simply means Brothers Gibb).

"Eminem" comes from M&M, initials of Marshall Mathers.

Similarly, "Emcee" from pronunciation of M.C., abbreviation of master of ceremonies, a noun phrase attested from the 1660s.

In my place I see a lot of companies titled similarly, PeeKays (from initials PK), CeePee electronics, Kay Pee Em tours and travels etc.

Now, my username NVZ is an initialism. What if I expand it into En Vee Zee?

What is this type of naming called?

I don't think it's simply an acronym, or an initialism.

Closely related: Is IOU an abbreviation, an acronym, or an initialism? — Mari-Lou A, Mar 09 '16 at 08:24
It definitely stands for "Brothers Gibb" (note: "Gibb" not "Gibbs"). "DJ Bill Gates" is pretty laughable, where did you get that from? — Max Williams, Mar 09 '16 at 08:55
@NVZ - on reading that, and this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Gees#History i totally stand corrected. I guess i found it funny because I pictured the Microsoft founder with one headphone, geeing up a crowd for a bass drop. — Max Williams, Mar 09 '16 at 09:22
I don't know, but I'm more upset that I DID know the Brothers Gibb thing. Shouldn't there by a word for "things we should just all forget"? — jimm101, Mar 09 '16 at 13:56
Possible duplicate of Is there a term for words that are sounded out initialisms? Also see Why does the word “emcee” exist? — choster, Mar 09 '16 at 14:48

Max Williams · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-09T14:46:35.957

If you say it aloud, then it's just an initialism. If you proceed to spell it out with complete syllables, rather than letters, i thought at first you could say it's a "phonetically spelled initialism". On the other hand, "phonetically spelled" may suggest that a phonetic alphabet should be used, ie one in which the symbols represent specific sounds, unlike the more flexible regular alphabet.

So, perhaps the best reference is sensational spelling, in which a word is deliberately misspelled for effect. This is commonly used in branding to give an impression of uniqueness, and, perhaps more importantly, to allow the trademarking of the term. ("Blu-ray", "Mortal Kombat" etc - see "Sensational spelling" on Wikipedia)

So, i think you could call it a sensationally spelled initialism.

What kind of abbreviations are "Bee Gees", "Eminem", etc?

1 Answers1