An acronym is a name constructed of lerfu. English examples are “DNA” , “NATO” , “CIA” . In English, some of these are spelled out (like “DNA” and “CIA” ) and others are pronounced more or less as if they were ordinary English words (like “NATO” ). Some acronyms fluctuate between the two pronunciations: “SQL” may be “ess cue ell” or “sequel” .

In Lojban, a name is often represented by one cmevla (a word that ends in a consonant and is surrounded by pauses). The easiest way to Lojbanize acronym names is to glue the lerfu words together, using ' wherever two vowels would come together (pauses are illegal in cmevla) and adding a final consonant:

There is no fixed convention for assigning the final consonant. In Example 17.40 , the last consonant of the lerfu string has been replicated into final position.

Some compression can be done by leaving out bu after vowel lerfu words (except for .y.bu , wherein the bu cannot be omitted without ambiguity). Compression is moderately important because it's hard to say long cmevla without introducing an involuntary (and illegal) pause:

In Example 17.41 , the final consonant m stands for merko , indicating the source culture of these acronyms.

Another approach, which some may find easier to say and which is compatible with older versions of the language that did not have a ' character, is to use the consonant z instead of ' :

One more alternative to these lengthy cmevla is to use the lerfu string itself prefixed with me , the cmavo that makes sumti into selbri:

This works because la , the cmavo that normally introduces cmevla used as sumti, may also be used before a predicate to indicate that the predicate is a (meaningful) name:

Example 17.44 does not of course refer to a bear ( le cribe or lo cribe ) but to something else, probably a person, named “Bear” . Similarly, me dy ny. .abu is a predicate which can be used as a name, producing a kind of acronym which can have pauses between the individual lerfu words.