Make an acronym from the first letters of a phrase

How to use the acronym generator

1. Type or paste your phrases into One phrase per line.
2. Keep Skip small words (and, of, the …) ticked for the usual style, where only main words count.
3. Tick Add dots (N.A.S.A.) for the dotted style.
4. Copy the acronyms. Each line of input gives one acronym on the same line of output.

What it does and when to use it

An acronym shortens a long name to its first letters. You need one when naming a project, a team, a product or a committee, when you write a report that mentions the same body many times, or when you build a glossary. The tool also helps you check how an existing name would shorten before you commit to it. A product called “Smart Home Integration Toolkit”, for example, gives an unfortunate result.

Because every line is handled on its own, you can paste a whole list of departments or document titles and get all the acronyms in one go. Then use alphabetize words or the text sorter to order them for a glossary.

To change the case of the full phrases first, the case converter helps.

How it works

For each line, the tool:

1. Splits the phrase into words at spaces, hyphens, en and em dashes and slashes.
2. Removes punctuation at the start of each word, so “(beta)” counts from b.
3. Drops small words from the list above when the option is on, except for the first word.
4. Takes the first character of each remaining word and makes it a capital.
5. Joins the letters, adding a dot after each one if you chose dots.

Digits count as first characters, so “3 Dimensional” gives 3D. Blank lines stay blank. It all runs in your browser.

Worked examples

These outputs come from the tool’s own function.

Common terms. “Portable Network Graphics”, “National Aeronautics and Space Administration” and “Search engine optimisation” give PNG, NASA and SEO. “and” was skipped, and lowercase words still give capitals.

Dotted style with every word. “as soon as possible” with small words kept and dots on gives A.S.A.P.

Titles and slashes. “The Lord of the Rings”, “Frequently asked questions” and “Input/Output” give TLR, FAQ and IO.

Limits and tips

• Only one letter is taken per word. Established forms such as “DoD” or “XML” (from eXtensible) cannot be reproduced exactly.
• Some well-known acronyms keep a small word, like the “a” in “ASAP”. Untick the option for those.