That seems to be the way things are headed, anyway:

Note to the Village People: The lyrics in your biggest hit need an update. The organization previously known as the Y.M.C.A. is henceforth to be called “the Y.”

One of the nation’s most iconic nonprofit organizations, founded 166 years ago in England as the Young Men’s Christian Association, is undergoing a major rebranding, adopting as its name the nickname everyone has used for generations.

“It’s a way of being warmer, more genuine, more welcoming, when you call yourself what everyone else calls you,” said Kate Coleman, the organization’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.

Soon a special dictionary will be necessary to help navigate all the abbreviations being adopted as formal names by companies and charities alike: KFC. BP. Xe. AARP. A few months ago, National Public Radio sent a note to all its staff members asking everyone to refer to it as NPR.

“In many ways, we are just catching up to our audience,” said Dana David Rehm, NPR’s senior vice president for marketing and communications.

Jonah Disend, chief executive of Redscout, a brand strategy company in New York, said adopting abbreviations in lieu of long names could make sense in an era of Twitter, with its 140-character diktat, and apps for mobile phones.

“There’s a real need to make everything fit into a bite-size space,” Mr. Disend said. (The Y has an app, but nonprofits have not fully embraced them yet, in part over their vexation with Apple, which prohibits the use of iPhone apps for fund-raising.)

Brand experts say a new name can make sense when a company has outgrown its name or offers services that go way beyond what its name describes. “I’m advising a client right now to do just this,” said Larry Checco, president of Checco Communications and author of “Branding for Success: A Roadmap for Raising the Visibility and Value of Your Nonprofit Organization.”

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