Was carving your name into a bullet widespread practise throughout any major conflict? How was the practise viewed?

by ProjectFrostbite

I've frequently heard this myth spoken about world war one, but only about world war one. I wondered if there was any truth to this myth, and if so whether it was just tench fashion or actually consisted to do anything.

sam-29-01-14

The phrase 'A bullet with your name on it' is the idea that out there somewhere, sitting in a box or a rifle, is the bullet that will kill you. This is an idea that has been around for a while, beginning with the phrase 'Every bullet has it's billet' first seen in print in 'E Cobhams Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 1898'.

As for carving your name into a bullet, the only reference to this tradition I can find is in the TV series Blackadder Goes Forth, where the lovable idiot Baldrick interprets this phrase to mean that if he carves his name into a bullet, then he will own 'the bullet with his name on it' and thus be able to survive the war.

I am afraid that I can't turn up any other references to a tradition of carving your name into a bullet. Where have you come across this as a common practice?