To middle initial or not...

[❂ Murder by Death]

If an author has a large body of work using his/her middle initial, and an equally large body of work without their middle initial - with editions of the same books spread across both names - do we keep both names? Drop or keep the initial depending on which body of work is larger?

As an example:
I started cleaning up Carolyn G. Hart but stopped, because her name is printed "Carolyn G. Hart" on some of her covers and "Carolyn Hart" on others. (She is a GR author under her "Carolyn Hart" name, and the profile Carolyn G. Hart is unclaimed.)

[Paula]

I would keep both, but make sure the books are allocated correctly.

So if there are the same books on each profile, find out which edition was published first and use that name in the primary author position with the other name in the secondary position so the editions can be combined.

Add a hyper link to the GR Author profile in non GR Author profile

[❂ Murder by Death]

Very logical solution. I'll start that first thing tomorrow morning. Thanks! :)

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Chronology matters too. I would keep both if the author is currently (or most recently) using both forms. If they started with one and then switched to the other, I'd probably keep just one form.

[❂ Murder by Death]

I'll research that as well, Rivka, thanks.

[❂ Murder by Death]

rivka wrote: "Chronology matters too. I would keep both if the author is currently (or most recently) using both forms. If they started with one and then switched to the other, I'd probably keep just one form."

Ok, so in this example, Carolyn Hart stopped using the G. on her books after 1995. As I mentioned, she's claimed her "Carolyn Hart" profile. So, should I just move all her books over to the non-G profile and just keep the one form?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

I would, since the author clearly prefers that form.

[MissJessie]

Additionally, two different names, with and without initial, makes combining impossible and also complicates searching for a book by the author.