Authors at the double with repeated initials

Writers love using one or more initials in their author name. It can perform a number of functions, such as disguising gender, adding a perceived sense of authority or differentiating a common name.

What’s much less common, however, is the use of repeated initials. For example, starting at the sharp end of the alphabet, A A Milne.

There aren’t many authors with repeated initials, which I find surprising as it’s a great way of making a name memorable.

Here’s a list of the few repeaters that spring to my mind:

A A Milne: not Alcoholics Anonymous but Alan Alexander from Pooh Corner.

E E Cummings: The often lower-cased poet was named Edward Estlin.

B B King: he might be a musician but he has (co)written an autobiography. The B B doesn’t strictly refer to a name as it’s Blues Boy.

George R R Martin: The man who owns the throne of fantasy is named George Richmond Richard and apparently often referred to as GRMM (as in Fairy Tales?)

H H Munro: Ghost story writer Hector Hugh Munro forsook his repeating initials for the nom de plume of Saki.

Z Z Packer: my namesake and short-story virtuoso actually added the second Z to keep the first company as her name is just Zuwena.

J R R Tolkien: John Ronald Reuel has quite a ring to it.

That’s all I could think of to start with but I’ll be keeping my eyes open for other authors who recur to me