What are the commonest initials of people born in the UK? What would the answer have been for France, Germany or Italy?

For the UK., I think we have to say "J.S." The most common first name among living male Britons older than infancy AND those born in 2005 is "John," while the most common surname is "Smith." (The most common first name among living female Britons is "Margaret," but girls born in 2005 were more likely to be named "Jessica.") Here's one site:

http://www.rogerdarlington.co.uk/useofnames.html#WE

Then this is a list of most common surnames, by country. For Italy, the most common surname is "Rossi," (meaning "red" or "redheaded" people.) Since Giovanni/Giovanna, or Gianni/Gianna or variants thereof are probably the most common first names in Italy, I'll go for "G.R." for the Italians.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_family_names

And finally, here's a list of most popular first names for babies born since 2000 in a number of countries -- though there may be problems with this data, as the tag indicates, and Italy is not included.

But some comparisons can be made between sites.


http://www.answers.com/topic/most-popular-names

I would disagree about "J.S.". The commonest initial letter for surnames in the UK is actually B.
Smith may be common but if you add up all the Bakers, Bartons, Balls, Bells, Bests, Browns and so on, so the commonest are probably "J.B".
There aren't quite enough Scots to make it "J.M".