Look for a trend of intensely skinny -- yet deeply ironic -- supermodels with totes monogrammed FAT.

jonathan eric robert katz
joseph ethan weinstein
nathanial ulysses turner
frederick allen gustavson

unfortunately, due to work being quiet in the summer, i could go on with this all day.

can it be legal to write *poser* on the ppl walking aruond with the "im not a plastic bag" bag.

everytime i see one, the person with it is obviously not carrying the bag for what it was supposed to be for.
lol

but that pic is hilarious...hahahhahahahh
what if the persons name was Charles Anderson Cooliage?

I would totally do it. However, I like the symetrical design my initials have.

Be proud of the initials your parents gave you.

If it spells something funny, go for it.

Actually, bellaknollie, I rather like the idea of embroidering designer knock-off bags with "poseur." Use a sufficiently flowery script that people have to look closely before they get it...

This "KKK" embroidered tote bag (from Gawker) was quite disturbing...
http://gawker.com/photogallery/ivycup/1971064

wende,

i think you're on to something... you should definitely do that!

I like the Onion's answer to the tote bag: http://store.theonion.com/canvas-tote-p-51.html

My initials spell PEW and I have been teased about it since my playground days - as a child no one was hearing that a pew is actually a church bench. The few items that I have had monogrammed are with my last initial enlarged and in the middle. After seeing the above photo though, I might just let my pseudo-stinky initials ride if I monogram anything ever again.

My initials are BMW I've never had anything monogramed!!!

MY initials are AMP, and I hesitate to monogram

One of my considerations for keeping my maiden name is because my intials would have become RAG (although I have never had anything monogrammed, anyway).

This is too funny! My Father's name is Jack Eugene Wilson, so whenever he gets anything monogrammed he has to have it done so the W is in the middle! I guess his Mother wasn't thinking of personalized towels when she named him!

so...i'm expecting my first child in october...and if it's a girl her initials will be CAT...that's not horribly cruel, is it? i've always wanted to be able to call a girl Cat as a nickname... am i just a mean future-mommie?

right on, nightwind. i think you should go for the monogram ESPECIALLY if your initials spell something funny.

or, maybe the bag in the photo isn't a monogram at all. maybe it's a warning message. as in, "i am an ass. watch out."

My Dad's HAM, and he has *cringe* almost all his shirts monogramed!

Monica reminded me of something ... why do people change the order of their initials, sometimes putting the last initial in the center in a larger font size? This never made sense to me.

If I decide to take my partner's name when we get married, my initials will be ASS

I LOVE the im not a poser bag.
hmmmmmmm

photoshop
cool type
sewing machine
blank canvas bag

hahahah classic.

hehe, I recently tried to order some monogrammed pillows from West Elm for a friend for her birthday. They were *supposed* to read "YAY" and "SEX." The ones they sent just said "Y" and "S." When I returned them they would not offer me any explanation for the mistake (was it a mistake?), and wouldn't refund my money even though it was clearly their error... I now have a credit for West Elm and no yay sex pillows! Lame!

aquarabbit,

They legally HAVE to refund your money if it was their mistake. Tell them you're going to take them to small claims court if they dont.

i love it. "yay" and "sex" . yeah totally ask for your money back.

i had a friend in highschool whos initials were kkk, she had her middle name changed to elizabeth

My aunt had to retire her monogrammed items in the early-mid '70s in San Francisco during the whole Patty Hearst debacle; her initials are S.L.A. (Symbionese Liberation Army, for those of us who hadn't been born yet.)

My Mom's initials are "ASS", but it's by marriage so she gets to say that marrying my Dad made her an ass. Seeing as my initials are also AS I figure it's only a matter of time before I marry someone whose last name starts with an S.

(For the record, for monograms my Mom generally uses her maiden name, although we once had some "ASS" guest towels that were pretty amusing.

love this post! i JUST got a new luggage item monogrammed, and i couldn't be happier with the result: ELF.
before i got married my initials were ELM, and i was pretty satisfied, but now i think my monogram possibilities are way more fun. By the way, i got the rolling adventure duffel from LLBean and it is the best piece of carry-on luggage ever. LLBean loves a monogram.

Ha my parents ALMOST named me "Abigail" before they realized my initials would spell "ASS"! They were kind enough to change their minds at the last minute.

bbt,

CAT is great - I've always wanted that name/initials. But!, I would do it with a k.
KAT.

I do know someone who narrowly escaped having the initials PCB. Toxic chemicals definitely do not give off the cool vibe that all the other suggestions above do.

I saw this bag on the LIRR!!
btw, LLBean is a great sport about non-traditional monogram requests.. you can ask for all lower case letters... hyphens. etc.
i gave my brother a huge bag and put my nick name for him on it (t-bone) and another friend (jr. petunia) and gave bags for a wedding gift for my friends the Halls (les halls) and you can give endearment bags like "cupcake" and "lambchop". what is so great is that even the most masculine guy breaks down at one point and finds a use for the bag, despite the endearment...

i've seen towels -- "mine" and "yours" -- too.

Hee hee! I could spend way too much time coming up with silly initials...! David Isaac Christopher Klein. Arnold Robert Stephen Edwards. Ok i'll stop now. What a great post!

I'd love to have CAT as my initials! Also love the poser bag idea!
Tammy Isolde Theresa Smith. Ok I really will stop now!

Too bad he wasn't wearing a "fcuk" T-shirt.

Robyn, I don't know why the order changes, but that is the correct way. Your last initial is supposed to be in the middle of the monogram. Anything else is technically incorrect, although if that's your preference, that's fine.

plus1 -- I'm AMP too! Never really felt the need to display that everywhere.

When my son was born, we decided on a name that would give him the initials EAR, and thought we'd get away with it, since his ears were flat against his head. Then the next day, they kind of unfolded and are now quite a prominent feature (though he has kind of grown into them). Luckily he's even-tempered, and has deflected any comments graciously or humorously.

i've heard from fancy southern ladies that men should go with initials in order and ladies should go with last name initial in center/larger.

My poor friend Peter's initials are PMS. Fortunately he has a sense of humor.

One of my best friend's initials are LSD and my husband has a number of blankets from family with his initials, SAR, which was great during the SARS epidemic.

My initials are VIP... my dad actually planned it that way and made up my first name because he didn't like any of the "normal" V names. I LOVE it and would get it monogrammed on more things but for the fear that people would think I was just super pretentious!

I would need a disclaimer under my monogramming saying, no really these are my initials!!

btw- my sister in law is another AMP! (By her married name)

My initials are MAP and I love that it spells something. :)

I think the initial thing is super pretentious in an "see how upper crust I am! I am really!" way, UNLESS your initials spell something awesome.

Then it is just, er.....awesome.

I worked with a woman who insisted on naming her daughter a name that we all told her, while nice, would give her little girl the initials STD. She can't say we didn't try...

I also have two friends with the initials GAS and PMS. Don't parents think about these things when considering all the ways their child could be tortured on the playground???

There's more than one way to do a monogram - for example, the diamond and circular motifs will place the first letter of the last name(s) in the center...

...so if your name is Derek Orson Renfrew-Keating, your monogram could read , rather than DORK.

My initials are CMU, yeah not a problem you think until 7th grade when I got an LL Bean monogamed backpack with the diamond shaped monogram with the last initial in the center.

cUm

Yeah, I learned a new word that day. I don't mongram anything.

Someone I know had his kids names and initials match:

TIM
TOM

Guess he wanted to be consistent...

a client gave these out as christmas gifts last year with just our first and last initials. so my worker received hers...it said "VD"

i got some pillowcases monogrammed for a boyfriend a few years back - WTF and OMG. neither are his actual initials.

A friday laugh definitely needed. Awesome post!

Aquarabbit: you might be interested in checking out these pillow slips http://www.truelovealways.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=39 The Love Honor Obey is pretty cool. Apparently lots are sold to newlyweds! Brooklynem: sorry I don't follow what is "disturbing" about surf's up. Is it because they are photographed in their Polo gear?... I'm in the UK and I know we have a different sense of humour..

My BF's initals are STD. :-)

mine: AVN. i have very monogram-able initials.

my initials would be "SEW," which isn't offensive, but my nickname is "sam," so when i was younger and had things monogrammed, i just put "sam."

not compelling, but convenient.

this is hilarious. thanks for sharing!!!

my initials are LCG, which was probably pretty obvious. I was thinking about baby names I liked and sadly realized that my favorite first and middle combo would actually end up with the initials LRG, I decided to keep looking.

MAC

My initials were boring until MLS was formed! Ha!

My BFF's initials are PC
if i were to have married an ex, our monogram would have been ASS (forget totebags, how would you like that on wedding invites, towels, pillowcases, etc.)

My name is Lara and my maiden name was Davis. My mom was going to make my middle name Sue, with the intention of having my clothes monogramed. My dad hated the idea (the man who wanted to name me Lucretia?!??) so unfortunately she wimped out...that would have been awesome.

I'm OK :D! My initials are OK and I'm quite OK about it.

Olga

Doesn't always to have be a monogram to scar you for life - my maiden name was Heap (barrel of laughs on the playground, I can tell you). My parents named me Yvonne - Y Heap (why indeed?). At least I could get married, and you can bet I wasn't about to hyphenate my surnames.
My unfortunate brother Andrew fared worse. No wonder he was good at beating other kids up. Even better, their second choice was Christopher.

My initials are S N M -- well I can be snippy sometimes!!!
Stephanie Natalie M????

my son's initials are XOV.

Also, as someone mentioned, men's initials should be all the same size lettering and in order. Women's should be first LAST middle.

I want to embroider pillowcases for my husband and I and don't know how to do his name, though: EV-R? First, (no middle) hyphenated last. Or EVR