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The only reason I would say no is what if you are inviting a family and only some of them can make it. I would number the cards if you are worried about people not writing their names.
Out of 140 invites I only had 2 forget to write it.
I would let the guests fill it in themselves. You never know if one person out of the two arent able to come and then they would have to scratch out the name or re-write it. Id write the little numbers on the back so you can track who each card is coming from if they forget their names. We only had one RSVP sent back without a name for over 300 people invited :)
I think the RSVP date depends on when in Septmeber your wedding is. Id do it about a month or so before. It cant hurt to have it a week or so earlier so you have time follow up with people that you havent heard from.
It would be weird if the M___ line was already filled in when the guests receive the invites. If you are making your own invites, skip the M____ altogether and print the invited guests' names to avoid confusion.
It is standard to send out invites at 6-8 weeks before the wedding while the rsvp due date is typically 3-4 weeks before. That allows time to track down anyone who hasn't turned theirs in yet.
My cards just had a __________________ (no "M" in the beginning) and I filled in their names for them. I couldn't think of any reason why it would be rude plus it will save me some stress in that I won't get any cards with no names. I haven't had anyone say anything to me about the fact that I wrote their names for them - no one felt offended as far as I know. So anyway that's my opinion - I say go for it!
We preprinted the names on (a.k.a. idiot-proofed) the RSVPs; we also had a meal choice, and initialing wasn't going to cut it. It worked out really well for us, and for others I've seen do this. I say go for it!
I agree with Ember78 on everything she said - skip the M___ altogether if you are preprinting names, and 8 weeks is the "standard", but give your self time to track down stragglers when you set the RSVP date!
I'm using the Names_______________ line, instead of the M__________________ line - hoping to make that clear.
What you might do instead of writing in the names is discreetly number each card (so you know who it belongs to, in case you get some that aren't filled out completely)
@kate6214: We will also have # attending____ below accept and decline so we know since most of our guests are either couples or families.
@naangel55: We are doing RSVP postcards....guess I need to find a spot to put a little number so it's not obvious too much---and the USPS doesn't freak out about a number in the no print zone for postcards.
@Ember78: True, should just print the names and leave off the "M___" or name spot entirely if we go that route. This whole idea just came to mind and I thought I'd throw it out there since I'd never seen the topic come up like this.
Thanks for the responses ladies!
I'd still have the guests fill in the name themselves. Most people do understand enough about rsvp cards to do this. What we did was just number the back of the card, as it corresponded to the number the guest was on our guest list. So for the couple that didn't write their names, we knew how to figure out who they were- easy peasy. Its so much less time consuming than writing everyone's name!
And I'm of the belief that if people don't rsvp to you buy the time you set for them, then they're not coming. Such a tyrant :). But seriously, my rsvp date was for June 1st, if I didn't hear from someone, we'd call them, email them and if we didn't hear back then they weren't included in our final numbers. So I think giving yourself close to 2 weeks to track down the guests before the caterer needs the numbers will be fine.
@Christie: LOL Idiot proof is correct! I don't know why it's so hard for people to respond and also respond correctly.
@jennifer_espos: Except we aren't doing card w/ envelope--we are doing postcard. The USPS is super picky on the layout of the back of the card with certain areas only for the bottom to allow the stamping of the barcode and such. I don't want people to see that and think, "What the hell is that number for?" Unless it's a current/recent bride who would know, which I don't think there are any.
I decided to fill in our guests names with my calligraphy pen because I wanted to make sure that there was no confusion about who was invited, and because we're having a tiny (45 person) wedding, so it was easy and one less mistake a guest could make. There's only one person who's getting a "plus one" since everyone else has a spouse, so she's the only person with a guest whose name I'm not positive of. If we were having a larger wedding, I would have skipped it and opted for a sneakier trick like using a blacklight marker to number the cards. I think you should also take into consideration the style of your invitations. Ours are very unique and a little quirky, so I decided that they weren't too formal for me to write the names in. On a very formal invitation, I'd skip it.
And if I were you, I'd give yourself a larger (3-4 week) window to track down RSVPs after the deadline.
I think at the bare minimum you should allow yourself two weeks to track down missing RSVPs. My guests for the most part were *very* good about RSVP-ing ontime, and I'm still tracking down a couple of stragglers two weeks later. Ugh.
@BostonBrideToBe: Hey date twin! Our wedding is small--129 invited but expect around 70 due to one thing or another. I made our invites and need to get them printed and mailed out soon!! Definitely not having a super formal wedding but also don't want people (I hope) showing up in jeans or tennis shoes.
@Curlysue: Yay for September 5th! We finished our invites (100% DIY) early and dropped them in the mail yesterday just to get them the heck out of the house! I'm SOOO nervous about reactions! They're fun, quirky, but still kinda sorta formal in the hopes that we'll get people to arrive in the right level of formality! It's a bit difficult sometimes, isn't it? We're having an unusual wedding -- a formal cocktail party, essentially, and are trying to create a "jazz lounge" feeling, so everything from our website to our invitations is reflecting that. I'm crossing my fingers for no one to show up in jeans, but I'm sure I'll be too joyful to even notice if they do. (Right?! 
)
Ours were postcards, too. Worked out perfectly, preprinted names, meal choice and all. If you're preprinting the names, why would you need the little number in the corner?
They're already idiot-proofed for you, too. 
I say that with love, having been there.
@Christie: No, girls who don't pre-print names on the RSVPs use the little numbers or even hidden numbers. Don't need both.
I printed the names on and had a "number attending" line.
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So I've seen many times on here that gals have issues with people not filling in their names on the "M________" line or "Name(s)_______" spot to let the bride and groom know who is actually RSVPing. Question though, do you think it would be weird, rude, odd, etc if I tried to avoid that entirely and just send an RSVP with their pre-printed names on that line so I don't have to deal with silly people who forget to write their names but say they are or aren't coming? I've never seen someone do this so I wonder how it would be perceived.
Also, my caterer wants numbers to her by August 30th, do you think our deadline of August 18th is good or do I need to bump it up and give myself more time to make any calls to people who just never respond at all?