TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Initialism Title

Go To

Initialism Title (trope)
"I've given it lots of thought, and think the most fun job in the world must be coming up with the acronyms for Kids Next Door episode titles."

A title which is solely an initialism — uses big letters, optionally also dots.

Historically, while the practice of shortening words has been around for a long time (think "SPQR"), it has become very common among companies since the late 19th century; thus, such titles tend to be set in the modern era, and often have a vague suggestion of some powerful organization or government involved somewhere.

This appears to be especially popular for video games.

If such a title has a subtitle, more often than not it will be simply an expansion of the initialism in question.

Note that acronyms written as one normally capitalized word, such as "Scuba" or "Gestapo", do not count as example of this trope. Titles that simply include an initialism (Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Operation: V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E.) don't fit in here either.

Often overlaps with Team Title or Vehicle Title. Sometimes also with Fun with Acronyms, though usually it's because the initialism in the title is already the name of something within the work itself.

This is so common for names of companies, organizations, software and industry products that there's no point in listing them, apart from when they're repurposed as names of works.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 

    Comic Strips 

    Fan Works 

    Film — Animated 
  • TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • WALL•E: Waste Allocation Load Lifter — Earth-class

    Film — Live-Action 

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 
  • Used in-universe for 30 Rock with T.G.S. (which was formerly known as The Girly Show until Tracey Jordan was brought on).
  • ALF: Alien Life Form.
  • ANZACs: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
  • B.o.B
  • Breaking Bad has an episode titled "I.F.T.", short for Skyler's revelatory line at the end of the episode, "I fucked Ted" (and a convenient way to censor the F-word).
  • CIA
  • CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
  • CSI: NY: Crime Scene Investigation: New York
  • Cucumber: Children's Underground Club of United Moose and Beaver for Enthusiastic Reporters
  • DMV
  • FBI
  • The F.B.I.
  • FUBAR
  • G.B.H. (Great British Holiday)
  • GCB (an abbreviation of Good Christian Bitches, the title of the book it's somewhat based on)
  • JAG, its successor NCIS, and that show's spinoff NCIS: LA (another double initialism!)
  • M.A.N.T.I.S.
  • M*A*S*H (1972), as well as the film on which it was based, as well as the novel on which that was based. All of which stand for the Army term "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital".
  • NTSF:SD:SUV:: ("National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle"; a parody of the Police Procedural genre)
  • P.J.
  • Q.E.D. (a short-lived 80s adventure series)
  • RBT (a reality show about motorist stopped for a Random Breath Test)
  • RPA (a reality show set at the Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Sydney)
  • Skithouse parodied this with commercials for RSVP ("If you're gonna watch it, make sure you let us know!") and BYO.
  • S.W.A.T. (1975)
  • S.W.A.T. (2017)
  • UFO
  • V.I.P.
  • VR.5

    Music 
  • "MfG" ("mit freundlichen Grüßen" = "with kind greetings") by German rap group Die Fantastischen Vier. Not only is the title an acronym, but also its two verses consist almost exclusively of acronyms.
  • Bersuit Vergarabat has "C.S.M.", from their album Libertinaje, which is a potshot towards Carlos Saúl Menem, Argentina's president during the period the album was released.
  • Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion with "WAP" (Wet Ass Pussy)
  • "EMI" (the music label) by Sex Pistols, which immediately leads to Public Image Limited, often known as PIL.
  • Front 242's "W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G."
  • The Finnish band HIM (formerly known as "His Infernal Majesty")
  • Korean Pop Music has a Girl Group called I.O.I which stands for "Ideal Of Idol"
  • Kelela has "LMK", which, as the lyrics reveal, stands for "Let Me Know".
  • Mark Klem's song "GNA".
  • Madonna's MDNA
  • Korn's "A.D.I.D.A.S. (All Day I Dream About Sex)"
  • Suprême NTM ("Nique Ta Mère")
  • "T.S.O.P." (The Sound of Philadelphia) by MFSB (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother)
  • WASP
  • Wu-Tang Clan's "C.R.E.A.M." (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)
  • "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." (country song made famous by Tammy Wynette)

    Professional Wrestling 
Professional Wrestling is all over this trope. Nearly every company uses its initials as part of its branding and advertising.

  • AEW: All Elite Wrestling
  • AJPW: All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • AWA: American Wrestling Association
  • JCP: Jim Crockett Promotions
  • NJPW: New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • NWA: National Wrestling Alliance
  • UWF: Universal Wrestling Federation
  • WCCW: World Class Championship Wrestling
  • WCW: World Championship Wrestling
  • WWWF, then WWF, then WWE: World Wide Wrestling Federation, then World Wrestling Federation, then World Wrestling Entertainment, then WWE, Inc.

    Tabletop Games 

    Theatre 

    Video Games 

    Visual Media 
  • THD by Ian Miller

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY: The story is about a team of four girls and the title is the name their headmaster gives their team. Team names are always acronyms formed from the first letter of the names of the team-members (either personal name or family name). The first letter is always the name of the team leader. RWBY stands for Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.
  • TP: The short is about a living roll of toilet paper.

    Webcomics 
  • DDG: Drop Dead Gorgeous
  • GUE: Grace-Upon-Earth
  • PHD: Piled Higher & Deeper
  • PvP
  • S.S.D.D.
  • UC: The authors are keeping it a secret what UC stands for, for now.
  • xkcd does not stand for anything, but since anyone's first question is "What does xkcd stand for", one can let go this aversion.
  • XRS

    Websites 

    Western Animation 

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

Show's named after the (actual) American foreign intelligence agency.

How well does it match the trope?

Example of:

Main / TeamTitle

Media sources:

Report

Morty Proxy This is a proxified and sanitized view of the page, visit original site.