JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<div class="circle">
<span id="initials"></span>
</div>

CSS

.circle {
    width: 64px;
    height: 64px;
    border-radius: 50%;
    text-align: center;
    vertical-align: middle;
    line-height: 64px;
    background: #ccc;
    font-face: Arial;
    box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #999;
    font-size: 18px;
}

JavaScript

const name="Émile Paladilhe";
// using this approach as JS regex doesn't like unicode
var firstletters = '';
for (var word of name.split(' ')) {
    firstletters +=  word.substring(0, 1);
}
document.getElementById("initials").textContent=firstletters;