Initialism Title

A title which is solely an initialism - uses big letters, optionally also dots.

Historically, while the practice of shortening words has been around for a long time (think "SPQR"), it has became very common among companies since the late 19th century; thus, such titles tend to be set in the modern era, and often have a vague suggestion of some powerful organization or government involved somewhere.

This appears to be especially popular for video games.

If such a title has a subtitle, more often than not it will be simply an expansion of the initialism in question.

Note that acronyms written as one normally capitalized word, such as "Scuba" or "Gestapo", do not count as example of this trope. Titles that simply include an initialism (Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) don't fit in here either.

Often overlaps with Team Title or Vehicle Title. Sometimes also with Fun with Acronyms, though usually it's because the initialism in the title is already the name of something within the work itself.

This is so common for names of companies, organizations, software and industry products that there's no point in listing them, apart from when they're repurposed as names of works.

Examples of Initialism Title include:

Anime and Manga

• FLCL

Comic Books

• BPRD
• DC Comics titles L.E.G.I.O.N. and its successor, R.E.B.E.L.S.
• W.H.A.D.A.L.O.T.T.A.J.A.R.G.O.N., a story by Don Rosa
• WITCH, and its Animated Adaptation.

Film - Animated

• WALL-E

Film - Live Action

• B.A.P.S.
• C.H.U.D.
• DARYL
• F.I.S.T.
• R.O.T.O.R., a really bad 1989 knockoff of both The Terminator and RoboCop.
• S.W.A.L.K.

Live Action TV

• The CSI series:
  • CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
  • CSI: Miami
  • CSI: NY (two initialisms in one!)
• M*A*S*H, as well as the film on which it was based, as well as the novel on which that was based.
• MANTIS
• JAG and its successor NCIS
• NTSF:SD:SUV ("National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle"; a parody of the Police Procedural genre)
• SWAT
• Used in-universe in Thirty Rock with T.G.S.

Music

• The Finnish band HIM (formerly known as "His Infernal Majesty")
• Mark Klem's song "GNA".
• Madonna's MDNA M a D o N n A

Tabletop Games

• GURPS
• HoL

Video Games

• F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon
• GTR: FIA GT Racing Game
• H.E.R.O.
• KGB
• KKND: Krush, Kill 'N' Destroy
• MDK
• M.U.D.S. - Mean Ugly Dirty Sport
• MULE
• STALKER
• SWINE
• TFX
• Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X

Visual Media

• THD by Ian Miller

Western Animation

• |C.O.P.S.
• M.A.S.K.
• M-U-S-H, an Animated Parody of MASH with an all-animal cast. MUSH stands for Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes.
• Every single episode of Codename: Kids Next Door has one of these titles.
• Parodied on The Wrong Coast with S.W.A.T.A.W.A.T.A.T.A.A. (Special Weapons And Tactics As Well As The Ability To Appraise Antiques), a cross between S.W.A.T. and Antiques Roadshow.