eli5 how names work in the world

Submitted by Nakakapag_pabagabag t3_zzeiz7 in explainlikeimfive

We have in our country first name, last name and father's name. there is thing like double name. I heard there are some countries with first name, middle name and last name. there is also four-part names. there is also prepend thingies like "Junior".

how all of this is kept in documents? is my father's name the same thing as middle name? is it being kept in international passport? what about national passports? can i have "more" names, like 6? what does it mean anyway, can i use that for unique identification of person?

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hanyuzu t1_j2b76lf wrote

Our last name IS our father’s name. What we have is first name, middle name (mother’s maiden name), and last name (father’s surname).

Note: We’re both Filipinos I assume.

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frustrated_staff t1_j2b7js2 wrote

Names and naming conventions differ around the world. Documentation of names differs around the world, too. It's really, really culture specific. For example, the United States (default) is 3 names: given name #1, given name #2, and surname, in that order. But, sometimes there are 4 (looking at the Catholics): given, given, religious, and surname or given, religious, given, surname. In Korea, it's surname, given name (inherited), lucky name (Kim Jong Un's surname is Kim and his given name is Un) In Iceland, it's given name and (parents' given name)-son or given name and (parent's given name)-dottir. So Ezra Emmasdottir or Carl Gustavson (as examples).

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Eona_Targaryen t1_j2b92pw wrote

In mainstream America, at least:

-Your first name is what people call you by.

-Pretty much everybody has middle names but most people don't use them outside of legal paperwork. Often people will give their kids middle names to honor older relatives' first names. You can also just pick something that sounds good with the kid's first name. Having more than one middle name happens sometimes, there's no law restricting you to just one.

-Your last name is your family name. Usually it comes from your father or husband, but there is no law for choosing last names, so there are a lot of alternatives. Some people, especially those of latin american descent, will give their kids two last names.

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misplaced_optimism t1_j2bns6h wrote

Great question. Other people have provided examples of the types of names that exist, but I'd like to answer your second question. The truth is that it varies, and generally is a mess for the programmers and software developers who need to maintain the systems that keep track of names.

There is no standard for documentation that applies across a single country, much less multiple countries. For example: this is the US machine-readable passport naming standard. Other countries have different standards. Other types of official documentation in the US have different standards as well.

Falsehoods Programmers Believe about Names provides a good summary of the problem

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