WHAT'S MY NAME?
Falsehoods programmers believe about names
I've always been fascinated by names.
At school
I was called Teeman.
At home
I was called Brian.
And at work
I was called Mister B.
Before Joomla...
I made CD-ROMs.
Lots of different
types of CD-ROMs.
One of the most successful
was UK-Info.
And, in the UK, rather infamous.
Every telephone number
in the UK.
The official version
cost £2,000.
Mine cost £20.
We started by buying
the phone book of every city.
Then we sent them
to China.
They were manually
typed into a database.
It worked.
But there was a problem.
The telephone book
only knows one name.
The person who pays the bill.
So we needed
more names.
For version 2...
We bought a printout
from every city.
Everyone registered to vote.
And sent it to China.
Two pallets.
We added all those names
to the database.
Was this legal?
Questionably.
We sold it
for the next two years.
And somewhere along the way...
I learned a lot
about names.
How unique they are.
Or, more accurately...
How un-unique they are?
My family is very small.
I think I personally know
everyone in the UK
with the surname Teeman.
So I thought
"Brian Teeman" was very unique.
Then the internet happened.
And I was contacted
by another Brian Teeman.
On Facebook.
Yes.
Another Brian Teeman.
We have a lot of fun
with it.
Every year...
We wish each other
Happy Birthday.
That really confuses people.
We all know what a name is.
Don't we?
Let's start with something simple.
Brian Teeman
First name.
Family name.
So far, so good.
A name has a first name
and a last name.
False.
Not everyone has two names.
Not everyone has a family name.
Not everyone's name has the same structure.
And not everyone puts them
in the same order.
Li Wei
Which is the family name?
Li?
Wei?
It depends.
Your form says:
So you “fix” it.
Li Wei → Wei Li
And then another system
“fixes” it again.
Wei Li → Li Wei
Congratulations.
You have invented
Name Ping-Pong™.
Don't reverse someone's name
because you think you know
which bit is which.
Jane Smith
Jane Smith
↓
Jane Jones
Marriage.
Divorce.
Adoption.
Personal choice.
Legal change.
Same person.
Different name.
Which one is the correct name?
WHEN?
Jane Smith in 2018.
Jane Jones in 2026.
A name isn't an identifier.
Vincent van Gogh
Sanne de Vries
Jan van der Meer
Where is the family name?
And where do you sort them?
G? V?
It depends.
“Last name”
is not the same thing as
“the last word”.
Dupont
DUPONT
duPont
MacGregor
McGregor
Macgregor
“I'll just normalise the case.”
No.
Capitalisation can be part of
how a name is represented.
DUPONT
Jean
A convention sometimes used on French forms to make the family name visually obvious.
That's formatting.
Not a licence to rewrite someone's name.
Björk
Icelandic singer-songwriter and composer
Björk Guðmundsdóttir
Guðmundsdóttir
Guðmund's daughter.
Not necessarily
a family surname.
So what's her surname?
And where would you sort her?
B? G?
The question is wrong.
J. Edgar Hoover
J. R. R. Tolkien
H. G. Wells
What is the first name?
What is the family name?
What is an initial?
Where would you sort
J. R. R. Tolkien?
J? R? T?
T.
If you're sorting by family name.
Display name
≠
Sort name
Dr Brian Teeman
Professor Brian Cox
Rev Jane Smith
Is “Dr” part of the name?
No.
Is it useful information?
It depends.
Definitely at a University
So don't put it
in the name field.
Given name
Family name
Honorific
Where would you sort
Dr Brian Teeman?
T.
Not D.
Sir Elton John
Lady Gaga
Lord Byron
Where does Sir Elton John go?
S? E? J?
J.
Probably.
A name contains only letters.
A name contains no punctuation.
A name uses Latin characters.
A name is a reasonable length.
A name doesn't contain numbers.
A name can be converted to ASCII.
“I'll just validate it.”
X Æ A-Xii
Elon Musk's oldest child.
❌ INVALID NAME
Please enter a valid name.
No one wants to hear
their name is invalid.
José
O'Connor
Zoë
李小龍
Æ
ß
ñ
😊
Yes, really.
Your validation rule
is not a law of nature.
It's just a programmer's opinion.
Family Holiday
Anna Jónsdóttir
Jón Einarsson
Ólafur Jónsson
Sigríður Jónsdóttir
Mum · Dad · Son · Daughter
Four people.
One family.
Four different names.
“Family Name”
A family relationship
isn't a surname.
Where would you sort
this family?
Edson Arantes do Nascimento
Who?
Pelé.
What goes in the form?
What do people call you?
Legal name
≠
Name you use
Display name
≠
Legal name
Preferred name
≠
Passport name
Legal name
Passport name
UK Passport rules
30 characters for forenames
Up to 30 characters for your forenames, including spaces.
30 characters for your surname
The same 30-character limit applies to your surname.
Numbers get spelled out
A number that is genuinely part of your name will be written as a word.
Symbols and punctuation?
Numbers and symbols are not accepted.
Hyphens and apostrophes are allowed.
Accents disappear
Accents are not accepted.
An approved transliteration
may be used instead.
Too many names?
Names may be shortened or additional names reduced to initials.
Some names can be refused
Names that may cause public offence
or promote unlawful activity can be
rejected.
Credit card name
There is a 20 - 26 character limit — including spaces.
First name and last surname
That is what gets priority when the name has to be shortened.
Middle names get shortened
They may be shortened or removed altogether.
First name may become an initial
If there still isn't enough room, the first name can be reduced to an initial.
Only the last surname
If all else fails, that may be all that appears on the card.
Special characters disappear
Müller can become Muller. Accents and other special characters may be replaced with Latin equivalents.
Airline ticket name
Must match the name on the passenger's ID.
Work name
The name you use in your professional life.
Email name
The name you use when creating an email account.
The name your friends use
The name you go by in social situations.
Which one is
the name?
There isn't one.
Which one do you need?
Mr · Mrs · Miss · Ms · Mx
Dr · Prof · Rev
Which one should
we automatically select?
None.
A name doesn't tell you
someone's gender.
And gender isn't
the reason you're asking
for someone's name.
So...
What should
I put in my
name field?
STOP.
WHY are you asking
for their name?
WHAT are you going
to do with it?
Greeting
Hello, Brian
Sorting
Teeman, Brian
Payment
Name associated with the payment method
Identity
Legal name, where required
Travel
Name as represented in the travel document
Personalisation
What would you like us to call you?
Those are
different requirements.
So they may need
different data.
Don't start with:
first_name
last_name
Start with:
WHY?
And:
WHAT?
Why do I need
this information?
What am I going
to do with it?
If you don't know...
Don't ask.
Because the biggest
falsehood programmers
believe about names...
...isn't that everyone
has a first name
and a last name.
It's this:
There is such a thing
as “the name”.
There isn't.
Let's see what you remember.
Tom van der Laan
Where would you sort Tom in an alphabetical list?
Mr van der Laan
Under L, not V.
Carlos Manuel
Cámara Mora
Which is the first name? Which are the family names?
Where would you sort
him?
Carlos
Carlos = first name
Manuel = middle name
Cámara = father's
lastname
Mora = mother's lastname
Sort under C (father's name), not M.
Viviana Menzel
Which title would you use?
Dr Menzel
She has a PhD in Biology.
Lemuel van der Merwe
Where would you sort Lemuel in an alphabetical list?
Mr van der Merwe
Under V, not M.
Anja de Crom
How would you write her name?
Where would you sort her in an alphabetical
list?
Mw. De Crom
Use De Crom, not de Crom.
Sort under C, not D.
So...
What have we learned?
Don't assume.
Ask what the name is needed for.
WHAT'S MY NAME?
It depends.