...my answer to this crossword clue http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puzzles/Crosswords/Question1484419.html
it suddenly struck me, when and why did the practice of shortening men's forenames in writing die out (Wm, Geo, Chas, Thos, &c). Also, why was it only men's names and not women's? Thanks to those who love to delve into the back and beyond of the extremely arcane.
Perhaps it was to reduce the cost of sign writing Jackdaw. I only ever saw the abbreviations on shop or business names when I was young. Women were very rarely incorporated into company names(perhaps)
Interesting. I am well aware that a upon marriage a woman adopts her husband's style and title, which is why the wives of Princes Charles, Andrew and Edward are HRH but the husband of Princess Anne is not. The signwriting notion is intriguing, but I have seen old documents where people have signed their names in the shortened form. Surely it can't have been to save on ink?☺
I suspect that the practice was used with men's names, rather than women's, partly because it would have been used mainly for business correspondence and there simply weren't that many women in business.
Further, 'Wm', 'Geo', etc, often seemed to be used when the name wasn't preceded by the title 'Mr'. So, for example, a letter could be addressed to 'Mr W. Smith' or, more politely, to 'Wm. Smith, Esq.' There was no similar convention for writing to women.
I used to use 'Esq' when sending correspondence back in the 1980s. (I held dozens of committee posts and often sent hundreds of letters in a week). I don't seem to find the need for it nowadays!
The 'economy of space' may explain why some of the signatures on the American Declaration of Independence (and no doubt other important documents) were written with the aforementioned abbreviations.
We Suffolk people have to let those odd folk up there in Norfolk get a slice of the cake occasionally, otherwise they start hurling mangelworzels at us over the fence on the county border ;-)
To whom it may concern: The shortening of Christian names was also prevalent on the dials and movements in clock making. This was to "neaten" up the appearance, and also lessen the chances of a mistake, as the more characters to be engraved meant the more chances to make an irreversible and costly mistake.
Your Humble Servant, Stuey.