diff --git a/frappe/utils/data.py b/frappe/utils/data.py
index 2cc0a93e1d..cb92cc98db 100644
--- a/frappe/utils/data.py
+++ b/frappe/utils/data.py
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ def today():
 def get_abbr(string, max_len=2):
 	abbr=''
 	for part in string.split(' '):
-		if len(abbr) < max_len:
+		if len(abbr) < max_len and part[0]:
 			abbr += part[0]
 
 	return abbr or '?'