#$name =~ s/^(The|A|An) //i;
   $name =~ s/^(?:The|An?) //i;  # no capturing


  #for my $word (split(/[ _-]/,$name)) {
  #   push @abbr, substr($word,0,1);
  #}
   my @abbr = $name =~ /(?:_|\b)(\w)/g;


  #my $raw_abbr = $opt{periods} && $opt{periods} =~ /^[yt1]/i ? join('',map { $_ =~ s/$/./; $_; } @abbr) : join('',@abbr);

   my $raw_abbr = $opt{periods} && $opt{periods} =~ /^[yt1]/i 
                ? join('.',@abbr) . '.' 
                : join('', @abbr);