EDIT

import java.util.regex.Matcher;

import java.util.regex.Pattern;

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

import eu.etaxonomy.cdm.common.CdmUtils;

    public String getInitialsFromGivenName(String givenname, boolean forceOnlyFirstLetter) {

        if (givenname == null){

            return null;

            return "";

        }

        //remove brackets

        String[] splits = givenname.split("((?<=\\.)|\\s+|(?=([\\-\u2013])))+"); // [\\-\u2013]? // (?!=\\s) wasn't successful to trim

        for (String split : splits){

            split = split.trim();

                continue;

            }

            if (split.matches("^[\\-\u2013].*")){

                result += split.substring(0, 1);

                split = split.substring(1);

                    continue;

                }

            }