sub first_alpha {
  my $alpha = shift;
  $alpha = ucfirst($alpha) if $alpha =~ /^\l./;
  $alpha =~ s/\s*\b(A|a|An|an|The|the)(_|\s)//xi;
  if ($alpha =~ /^\d/) {
    $alpha = '#';
  }
  elsif ($alpha !~ /^\p{uppercase}/) {
    $alpha = '!';
  }
  else {
    $alpha =~ s/^(.)(\w|\W)+/$1/;
  }
  return $alpha;
}