Whatever the case, the family agreed on Hiram Ulysses Grant, which translated into the unfortunate initials H.U.G. The boy would show a decided preference for Ulysses and gradually discard Hiram, especially when other boys “teased him about his initials.”2 But this didn’t halt the taunts since Grant was known as “Ulyss” or “Lyss,” soon bastardized by malicious schoolmates into “Useless Grant.” The name Ulysses S. Grant was the product of a later bureaucratic error that stuck.
