diff --git a/src/Helper/StringHelper.php b/src/Helper/StringHelper.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eaab8ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Helper/StringHelper.php
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace AnzuSystems\CommonBundle\Helper;
+
+use Symfony\Component\String\UnicodeString;
+
+final class StringHelper
+{
+    private const string EMPTY_STRING = '';
+    private const string SHORTHAND_SUFFIX = '...';
+
+    public static function isNotEmpty(string $string): bool
+    {
+        return false === self::isEmpty($string);
+    }
+
+    public static function isSame(string $string1, string $string2): bool
+    {
+        return $string1 === $string2;
+    }
+
+    public static function isNotSame(string $string1, string $string2): bool
+    {
+        return false === self::isSame($string1, $string2);
+    }
+
+    public static function isEmpty(string $string): bool
+    {
+        return self::EMPTY_STRING === $string;
+    }
+
+    public static function cutString(
+        string $string,
+        int $maxLength,
+        bool $trim = true,
+    ): string {
+        if ($trim) {
+            $string = trim($string);
+        }
+
+        return mb_substr($string, 0, $maxLength);
+    }
+
+    public static function shorthandString(
+        string $string,
+        int $maxLength,
+    ): string {
+        if (mb_strlen($string) > $maxLength) {
+            return mb_substr($string, 0, $maxLength) . self::SHORTHAND_SUFFIX;
+        }
+
+        return $string;
+    }
+
+    public static function extractFirstLetter(string $string): string
+    {
+        /** @psalm-suppress PossiblyNullArgument */
+        return (new UnicodeString(trim(preg_replace('/[^\p{L}]+/u', self::EMPTY_STRING, $string))))
+            ->slice(0, 1)
+            ->ascii()
+            ->lower()
+            ->toString();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/Helper/StringHelperTest.php b/tests/Helper/StringHelperTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db253c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Helper/StringHelperTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,279 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace AnzuSystems\CommonBundle\Tests\Helper;
+
+use AnzuSystems\CommonBundle\Helper\StringHelper;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+
+final class StringHelperTest extends TestCase
+{
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterNormalCases(): void
+    {
+        // Test standard string processing
+        $this->assertSame('a', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Anderson'));
+        $this->assertSame('b', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Brown'));
+        $this->assertSame('s', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Smith'));
+        $this->assertSame('j', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Johnson'));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider normalStringDataProvider
+     */
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterWithNormalStrings(string $input, string $expected): void
+    {
+        $result = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($input);
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $result);
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterUnicodeHandling(): void
+    {
+        // Test Slovak character handling (á → a, č → c, etc.)
+        $this->assertSame('c', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Čapek'));
+        $this->assertSame('s', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Štefan'));
+        $this->assertSame('z', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Žitný'));
+        $this->assertSame('n', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Ňahaj'));
+        $this->assertSame('l', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Ľuboš'));
+        $this->assertSame('d', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Ďuriš'));
+        $this->assertSame('t', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Ťapák'));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider unicodeStringDataProvider
+     */
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterWithUnicodeCharacters(string $input, string $expected): void
+    {
+        $result = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($input);
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $result);
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterEdgeCases(): void
+    {
+        // Test empty strings, whitespace, single characters
+        $this->assertSame('', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter(''));
+        $this->assertSame('a', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('a'));
+        $this->assertSame('z', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Z'));
+        $this->assertSame('s', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter(' Smith')); // Whitespace trimmed
+        $this->assertSame('', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('   ')); // Only whitespace
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider edgeCaseDataProvider
+     */
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterWithEdgeCases(string $input, string $expected): void
+    {
+        $result = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($input);
+        $this->assertSame($expected, $result);
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterSpecialCharacters(): void
+    {
+        // Test numbers, punctuation, symbols
+        $this->assertSame('s', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('1Smith'));
+        $this->assertSame('n', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('2nd Street'));
+        $this->assertSame('', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('!@#$%')); // Special chars get normalized
+        $this->assertSame('p', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('(parentheses)'));
+        $this->assertSame('d', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('-dash'));
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterCaseHandling(): void
+    {
+        // Test uppercase/lowercase normalization
+        $this->assertSame('a', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('A'));
+        $this->assertSame('z', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Z'));
+        $this->assertSame('a', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('a'));
+        $this->assertSame('z', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('z'));
+        $this->assertSame('m', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('MixedCase'));
+        $this->assertSame('l', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('lowerCase'));
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterSlovakNameScenarios(): void
+    {
+        // Test realistic Slovak name scenarios
+        $slovakSurnames = [
+            'Novák' => 'n',
+            'Kováč' => 'k',
+            'Dvořák' => 'd',
+            'Horváth' => 'h',
+            'Varga' => 'v',
+            'Tóth' => 't',
+            'Nagy' => 'n',
+            'Takács' => 't',
+            'Molnár' => 'm',
+            'Szabó' => 's',
+        ];
+
+        foreach ($slovakSurnames as $surname => $expectedInitial) {
+            $result = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($surname);
+            $this->assertSame($expectedInitial, $result);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterAccentedNames(): void
+    {
+        // Test accented names: "Ľubomír" → "l", "Žofia" → "z", "Čapek" → "c"
+        $accentedNames = [
+            'Ľubomír' => 'l',
+            'Žofia' => 'z',
+            'Čapek' => 'c',
+            'Šimon' => 's',
+            'Ťažký' => 't',
+            'Ňuňa' => 'n',
+            'Ďaleko' => 'd',
+            'Ráž' => 'r',
+            'Áno' => 'a',
+            'Éva' => 'e',
+            'Ívan' => 'i',
+            'Óla' => 'o',
+            'Úrsula' => 'u',
+            'Ýves' => 'y',
+        ];
+
+        foreach ($accentedNames as $name => $expectedInitial) {
+            $result = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($name);
+            $this->assertSame($expectedInitial, $result);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterCompoundNames(): void
+    {
+        // Test compound names: "Van Der Berg" → "v", "De Silva" → "d"
+        $this->assertSame('v', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('Van Der Berg'));
+        $this->assertSame('d', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('De Silva'));
+        $this->assertSame('v', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('von Habsburg'));
+        $this->assertSame('d', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('da Vinci'));
+        $this->assertSame('l', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('La Fontaine'));
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterNamesWithPrefixes(): void
+    {
+        // Test names with prefixes: "Mc Donald" → "m", "O'Connor" → "o"
+        $this->assertSame('m', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('McDonald'));
+        $this->assertSame('m', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter('MacLeod'));
+        $this->assertSame('o', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter("O'Connor"));
+        $this->assertSame('o', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter("O'Brien"));
+        $this->assertSame('d', StringHelper::extractFirstLetter("D'Angelo"));
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterConsistencyForAlphabetFiltering(): void
+    {
+        // Ensure consistent lowercase output for alphabet filtering
+        $testNames = ['Anderson', 'BROWN', 'clark', 'Davis', 'EVANS'];
+        $expectedInitials = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'];
+
+        foreach ($testNames as $index => $name) {
+            $result = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($name);
+            $this->assertSame($expectedInitials[$index], $result);
+
+            // Verify it's lowercase
+            $this->assertSame(strtolower($result), $result);
+
+            // Verify it's suitable for alphabet filtering
+            $this->assertTrue(ctype_alpha($result) || '' === $result);
+            $this->assertTrue(mb_strlen($result) <= 1);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterPersonTextsCompatibility(): void
+    {
+        // Test that the method handles the same character sets used in PersonTexts
+        $personNames = [
+            'John Doe' => 'j',
+            'Jane Smith' => 'j',
+            'Peter Novák' => 'p',
+            'Maria Kováč' => 'm',
+            'Disabled Person' => 'd',
+            'Spectator Official' => 's',
+            'News Editor' => 'n',
+            'Sports Manager' => 's',
+        ];
+
+        foreach ($personNames as $name => $expectedInitial) {
+            $result = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($name);
+            $this->assertSame($expectedInitial, $result);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function testExtractFirstLetterNormalizationConsistency(): void
+    {
+        // Test that the same input always produces the same output
+        $testInputs = ['Novák', 'SMITH', 'čapek', 'Žitný'];
+
+        foreach ($testInputs as $input) {
+            $result1 = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($input);
+            $result2 = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($input);
+            $result3 = StringHelper::extractFirstLetter($input);
+
+            $this->assertSame($result1, $result2);
+            $this->assertSame($result2, $result3);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static function normalStringDataProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            'Simple name' => ['Smith', 's'],
+            'Uppercase name' => ['JOHNSON', 'j'],
+            'Mixed case name' => ['Anderson', 'a'],
+            'Single character' => ['A', 'a'],
+            'Long name' => ['Schwarzenegger', 's'],
+            'Common surname' => ['Brown', 'b'],
+            'International name' => ['García', 'g'],
+            'Eastern European' => ['Petrov', 'p'],
+            'Nordic name' => ['Andersson', 'a'],
+            'Celtic name' => ['Murphy', 'm'],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    public static function unicodeStringDataProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            // Slovak characters
+            'Č character' => ['Čapek', 'c'],
+            'Š character' => ['Štefan', 's'],
+            'Ž character' => ['Žitný', 'z'],
+            'Ň character' => ['Ňahaj', 'n'],
+            'Ľ character' => ['Ľuboš', 'l'],
+            'Ď character' => ['Ďuriš', 'd'],
+            'Ť character' => ['Ťapák', 't'],
+            'Ŕ character' => ['Ŕíša', 'r'],
+
+            // Accented vowels
+            'Á character' => ['Álvarez', 'a'],
+            'É character' => ['Éva', 'e'],
+            'Í character' => ['Ívan', 'i'],
+            'Ó character' => ['Óla', 'o'],
+            'Ú character' => ['Úrsula', 'u'],
+            'Ý character' => ['Ýves', 'y'],
+
+            // International characters
+            'German Ö' => ['Ömer', 'o'],
+            'German Ü' => ['Üwe', 'u'],
+            'German Ä' => ['Äpfel', 'a'],
+            'French Ç' => ['Çelik', 'c'],
+            'Spanish Ñ' => ['Ñoño', 'n'],
+            'Polish Ł' => ['Łukasz', 'l'],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    public static function edgeCaseDataProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            'Empty string' => ['', ''],
+            'Single space' => [' ', ''],
+            'Multiple spaces' => ['   ', ''],
+            'Leading space' => [' Smith', 's'],
+            'Tab character' => ["\t", ''],
+            'Newline character' => ["\n", ''],
+            'Mixed whitespace' => [" \t\n ", ''],
+            'Single letter' => ['a', 'a'],
+            'Single uppercase' => ['Z', 'z'],
+            'Number first' => ['1Smith', 's'],
+            'Special char first' => ['!Important', 'i'],
+            'Hyphen first' => ['-dash', 'd'],
+            'Underscore first' => ['_underscore', 'u'],
+            'Parenthesis first' => ['(test)', 't'],
+        ];
+    }
+}