Opening paragraphs..............

H. L. Mencken was baptized in the fall of 1880, a few months after his birth on September 12, into the Protestant Episcopal Church.  His baptized name was Louis Henry.  The initials came later when, in his first business venture as a nine-year-old printer of business cards and a neighborhood newspaper, Mencken's choice of movable type prevented him from spelling out his whole Christian name.  With the r's in his printing kit either broker or defective, he resorted to "H. L."

-D. G. Hart, Damning Words, the life and religious times of H. L. Mencken