Avoiding dot in true single-character middle name (abbrv-style)

Question

One of my co-author's name has the pattern "Aaaa B Ccccc", where (due to transcription from Chinese) the "B" is indeed a single character (part of the given name). Now BibTeX (in abbrv-style) likes to render this as A. B. Ccccc (note the dot trailing the "B"), whereas I'd either like A. Ccccc or A. B Cccccc. I tried Aaaa~B or B\, but still no go. Any tips?

Answer 1

This is really a nasty trick.

\documentclass{article}

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\onelettername}[1]{#1\aftergroup\@gobble}
\makeatother

\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@article{key,
author={Truman, Harry {\onelettername{S}}},
title={A title},
journal={J. Nice Results},
year=2012,
}
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
\cite{key}

\bibliographystyle{abbrv}
\bibliography{\jobname}
\end{document}