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A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of
names A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A persona ...
by which an individual person is known, and that can be recited as a word-group, with the understanding that, taken together, they all relate to that one individual. In many cultures, the term is synonymous with the '' birth name'' or '' legal name'' of the individual. In linguistic classification, personal names are studied within a specific onomastic discipline, called
anthroponymy Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and co ...
. In Western culture, nearly all individuals possess at least one ''
given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...
'' (also known as a ''first name'', ''forename'', or ''Christian name''), together with a ''
surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
'' (also known as a ''last name'' or ''family name''). In the name " Abraham Lincoln", for example, ''Abraham'' is the first name and ''Lincoln'' is the surname. Surnames in the West generally indicate that the individual belongs to a family, a tribe, or a clan, although the exact relationships vary: they may be given at birth, taken upon adoption, changed upon marriage, and so on. Where there are two or more given names, typically only one (in English-speaking cultures usually the first) is used in normal speech. Another naming convention that is used mainly in the
Arabic culture Arab culture is the culture of the Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast. The various religions the Arab ...
and in different other areas across Africa and Asia is connecting the person's given name with a chain of names, starting with the name of the person's father and then the father's father and so on, usually ending with the family name (tribe or clan name). However, the legal full name of a person usually contains the first three names (given name, father's name, father's father's name) and the family name at the end, to limit the name in government-issued ID. Men's names and women's names are constructed using the same convention, and a person's name is not altered if they are married. Some cultures, including Western ones, also add (or once added) patronymics or matronymics, for instance as a middle name as with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (whose father's given name was Ilya), or as a last name as with
Björk Guðmundsdóttir Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
(whose father is named
Guðmundur Guðmundur or Gudmundur is an Icelandic language, Icelandic male first name, sometimes shortened to Gummi or Gvendur. The Icelandic surname Guðmundsson is a patronymic surname meaning ''son of Guðmundur''. Guðmundsdóttir is a patronymic surnam ...
) or Heiðar Helguson (whose mother was named Helga). Similar concepts are present in Eastern cultures. However, in some areas of the world, many people are known by a single name, and so are said to be
mononymous A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...
. Still other cultures lack the concept of specific, fixed names designating people, either individually or collectively. Certain isolated tribes, such as the
Machiguenga The Machiguenga (also Matsigenka, Matsigenga) are an indigenous people who live in the high jungle, or''montaña'', area on the eastern slopes of the Andes and in the Amazon Basin jungle regions of southeastern Peru. Their population in 2020 amou ...
of the Amazon, do not use personal names. A person's personal name is usually their full legal name; however, some people use only part of their full legal name, a title, nickname, pseudonym or other chosen name that is different from their legal name, and reserve their legal name for legal and administrative purposes. The use of chosen names is very common in transgender and non-binary communities. It is nearly universal for people to have names; the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child declares that a child has the right to a name from birth.


Structure

Common components of names given at birth include: * Personal name: The
given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...
(or acquired name in some cultures) can precede a
family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
(as in most European cultures), or it can come after the family name (as in some East Asian cultures and Hungary), or be used without a family name. * Patronymic: A surname based on the given name of the father. * Matronymic: A surname based on the given name of the mother. *
Family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
: A name used by all members of a family. In
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, surnames gradually came into common use beginning in the 3rd century BC (having been common only among the nobility before that). In some areas of East Asia (e.g. Vietnam and Korea), surnames developed in the next several centuries, while in other areas (like Japan), surnames did not become prevalent until the 19th century. In Europe, after the loss of the
Roman system Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
, the common use of family names started quite early in some areas ( France in the 13th century, and Germany in the 16th century), but it often did not happen until much later in areas that used a patronymic naming custom, such as the Scandinavian countries, Wales, and some areas of Germany, as well as Russia and Ukraine. The compulsory use of surnames varied greatly. France required a priest to write surnames in baptismal records in 1539 (but did not require surnames for Jews, who usually used patronymics, until 1808). On the other hand, surnames were not compulsory in the Scandinavian countries until the 19th or 20th century (1923 in Norway), and Iceland still does not use surnames for its native inhabitants. In most of the cultures of the Middle East and South Asia, surnames were not generally used until European influence took hold in the 19th century. In Spain and most Latin American countries, two surnames are used, one being the father's family name and the other being the mother's family name. In Spain, though, the second surname is frequently used if the first one is too common to allow an easy identification. For example, Former Spanish Prime Minister
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections ...
is often called Zapatero. In Argentina, only the father's last name is used, in most cases. In Portugal, Brazil and most other Portuguese-speaking countries, at least two surnames are used, often three or four, typically some or none inherited from the mother and some or all inherited from the father, in that order. Co-parental siblings most often share an identical string of surnames. For collation, shortening, and formal addressing, the last of these surnames is typically preferred. A Portuguese person named António de Oliveira Guterres would therefore be known commonly as António Guterres. In Russia, the first name and family name conform to the usual Western practice, but the middle name is patronymic. Thus, all the children of Ivan Volkov would be named "
irst name An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. ...
Ivanovich Volkov" if male, or "
irst name An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. ...
Ivanovna Volkova" if female (-ovich meaning "son of", -ovna meaning "daughter of", and -a usually being appended to the surnames of girls). However, in formal Russian name order, the surname comes first, followed by the given name and patronymic, such as "Raskolnikov Rodion Romanovich". In many families, single or multiple middle names are simply alternative names, names honoring an ancestor or relative, or, for married women, sometimes their maiden names. In some traditions, however, the roles of the first and middle given names are reversed, with the first given name being used to honor a family member and the middle name being used as the usual method to address someone informally. Many Catholic families choose a
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
's name as their child's middle name or this can be left until the child's
confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
when they choose a saint's name for themselves. Cultures that use patronymics or matronymics will often give middle names to distinguish between two similarly named people: e.g., Einar Karl Stefánsson and Einar Guðmundur Stefánsson. This is especially done in Iceland (as shown in example) where people are known and referred to almost exclusively by their given name/s. Some people (called ''anonyms'') choose to be
anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...
, that is, to hide their true names, for fear of governmental prosecution or social ridicule of their works or actions. Another method to disguise one's identity is to employ a pseudonym. For some people, their name is a single word, known as a mononym. This can be true from birth, or occur later in life. For example,
Teller Teller or telling may refer to: People * Teller (surname) * Teller (magician), one half of the duo Penn & Teller Places * Teller, Alaska, United States ** Teller Airport * Teller County, Colorado, United States Other uses * 5006 Teller, a minor ...
, of the magician duo
Penn and Teller Penn may refer to: Places England * Penn, Buckinghamshire * Penn, West Midlands United States * Penn, North Dakota * Penn, Oregon * Pennsylvania ** Penn, Pennsylvania * Penn Lake Park, Pennsylvania * Penn Township (disambiguation), several muni ...
, was named Raymond Joseph Teller at birth, but changed his name both legally and socially to be simply "Teller". In some official government documents, such as his driver's license, his given name is listed as ''NFN'', an initialism for "no first name". The Inuit believe that the souls of the
namesake A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another. History The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake", which originates in English Bible translations ...
s are one, so they traditionally refer to the junior namesakes, not just by the names (''atiq''), but also by
kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
title, which applies across gender and generation without implications of disrespect or seniority. In Judaism, someone's name is considered intimately connected with their fate, and adding a name (e.g. on the sickbed) may avert a particular danger. Among Ashkenazi Jews it is also considered bad luck to take the name of a living ancestor, as the
Angel of Death Angel of Death may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Aviation *"Angel of Death", AC130 gunship's nickname Fictional characters * Adam or Andrew, in ''Touched by an Angel'' * Azrael, in ''Lucifer'' * Loki, in the film ''Dogma'' * Jaff ...
may mistake the younger person for their namesake (although there is no such custom among Sephardi Jews). Jews may also have a Jewish name for intra-community use and use a different name when engaging with the Gentile world. Chinese children are called diminutive or pejorative names to make them appear worthless to evil spirits. They receive a definitive name as they grow up.
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
and Japanese emperors receive posthumous names. In some Polynesian cultures, the name of a deceased chief becomes taboo. If he is named after a common object or concept, a different word has to be used for it. Depending on national convention, additional given names (and sometimes titles) are considered part of the name.


Feudal names

The
royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...
, nobility, and gentry of Europe traditionally have many names, including phrases for the lands that they own. The French developed the method of putting the term by which the person is referred in
small capital In typography, small caps (short for "small capitals") are characters typeset with glyphs that resemble uppercase letters (capitals) but reduced in height and weight close to the surrounding lowercase letters or text figures. This is techni ...
letters. It is this habit which transferred to names of Eastern Asia, as seen below. An example is that of Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch Gilbert du Motier, who is known as the Marquis de Lafayette. Note that he possessed both the lands of Motier and Lafayette. The bare place name was used formerly to refer to the person who owned it, rather than the land itself (the word "Gloucester" in "What will Gloucester do?" meant the
Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...
). As a development, the bare name of a ship in the Royal Navy meant its captain (e.g., "Cressy didn't learn from Aboukir") while the name with an article referred to the ship (e.g., "The ''Cressy'' is foundering").


Naming conventions

A personal naming system, or anthroponymic system, is a system describing the choice of personal name in a certain society. Personal names consists of one or more parts, such as
given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...
,
surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
and patronymic. Personal naming systems are studied within the field of
anthroponymy Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and co ...
. In contemporary Western societies (except for Iceland, Hungary, and sometimes Flanders, depending on the occasion), the most common naming convention is that a person must have a
given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...
, which is usually gender-specific, followed by the parents'
family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
. In onomastic terminology, given names of male persons are called ''andronyms'' (from Ancient Greek ἀνήρ / man, and ὄνομα / name), while given names of female persons are called ''gynonyms'' (from Ancient Greek γυνή / woman, and ὄνομα / name). Some given names are bespoke, but most are repeated from earlier generations in the same culture. Many are drawn from mythology, some of which span multiple language areas. This has resulted in related names in different languages (e.g. George,
Georg Georg may refer to: * Georg (film), ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also

* George (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...
, Jorge), which might be translated or might be maintained as immutable proper nouns. In earlier times, Scandinavian countries followed patronymic naming, with people effectively called "X's son/daughter"; this is now the case only in Iceland and was recently re-introduced as an option in the Faroe Islands. It is legally possible in Finland as people of Icelandic ethnic naming are specifically named in the name law. When people of this name convert to standards of other cultures, the phrase is often condensed into one word, creating last names like Jacobsen (Jacob's Son). In
Kafirstan Kāfiristān, or Kāfirstān ( ps, کاپیرستان, prs, کافرستان), is a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province in Afghanistan and Chitral District of Pakistan. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises ...
(now part of Afghanistan) "Children are named as soon as born. The infant is given to the mother to suckle, while a wise woman rapidly recites the family ancestral names; the name pronounced at the instant the baby begins to feed is that by which it is thereafter known." There is a range of personal naming systems: * Binomial systems: apart from their given name, people are described by their surnames, which they obtain from one of their parents. Most modern European personal naming systems are of this type. * Patronymic systems: apart from their given name, people are described by their patronymics, that is given names (not surnames) of parents or other ancestors. Such systems were in wide use throughout Europe in the first millennium CE, but were replaced by binomial systems. The Icelandic system is still patronymic. * More complex systems like Arabic system, consisting of paedonymic (son's name), given name, patronymic and one or two bynames. Different cultures have different conventions for personal names. This is a list of articles about particular cultures' naming conventions.


Name order


Western name order

The order ''given name, family name'' is commonly known as the Western name order and is usually used in most European countries and in countries that have cultures predominantly influenced by Western Europe (e.g. North and South America; North, East,
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and West India; Thailand; Indonesia; Singapore; Malaysia (most of);
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
; New Zealand; the Philippines and
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
(formerly)). Within alphabetic lists and catalogs, however, the family name is generally put first, with the given name(s) following and separated by a
comma The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline ...
(e.g. Jobs, Steve), representing the "lexical name order". This convention is followed by most Western libraries, as well as on many administrative forms. In some countries, such as France, or countries previously part of the former Soviet Union, the comma may be dropped and the swapped form of the name be uttered as such, perceived as a mark of bureaucratic formality.


Eastern name order

The order ''family name, given name'', commonly known as the Eastern name order, began to be prominently used in
Ancient China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
and subsequently influenced the East Asian cultural sphere (
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
(currently), Korea and Vietnam) along with Cambodia,
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
, Malaysia (among the Chinese communities). It is also used in the
southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
and
northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
parts of India, as well as in Central Europe by Hungarians. In Uganda, the ordering "traditional family name first, Western-origin given name second" is also frequently used. In the USSR and modern day Russia, personal initials are often written in eastern order when signing official documents (rus. ФИО "family name - given name - patronymic name"), i.e. Stalin J.V. When East Asian names are transliterated into the Latin alphabet, some people prefer to convert them to the Western order, while others leave them in the Eastern order but write the family name in
capital letters Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
. To avoid confusion, there is a convention in some language communities, e.g., French, that the family name should be written in all capitals when engaging in formal correspondence or writing for an international audience. In Hungarian, the Eastern order of Japanese names is officially kept and Hungarian transliteration is used (e.g. :hu:Mijazaki Hajao), but Western name order is also sometimes used with English transliteration (e.g. Hayao Miyazaki). Starting from the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Western name order was primarily used among the Japanese nobility when identifying themselves to non-Asians with their
romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
names. As a result, in popular Western journalism publications, this order became increasingly used for Japanese names in the subsequent decades. In 2020 the Government of Japan reverted the order of romanized names back to the Eastern name order in official documents (e.g.
identity documents An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID card, citizen ca ...
, academic certificates,
birth certificates A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuin ...
, marriage certificates, among others), which means writing family name first in capital letters and has recommended that the same format shall be used among the general Japanese public. Japan has also requested Western publications to respect this change, such as not using Shinzo Abe but rather Abe Shinzo, similar to how Chinese leader Xi Jinping is not referred to as Jinping Xi. Its sluggish response by Western publications was met with ire by Japanese politician Taro Kono, which stated that "If you can write Moon Jae-in and Xi Jinping in correct order, you can surely write Abe Shinzo the same way."


China and Korea

Chinese, Korean and other East Asian peoples, except for those traveling or living outside of China and areas influenced by China, rarely reverse their Chinese and Korean language names to the Western naming order. Western publications also preserve this Eastern naming order for Chinese, Korean and other East Asian individuals, with the family name first, followed by the given name. In Hong Kong, Cantonese names of Hong Kong people are usually written in the Eastern order with or without a comma (e.g. Wong Yat Sum or Wong, Yat Sum). Outside Hong Kong, they are usually written in Western order. Unlike other East Asian countries, the syllables or logograms of given names are not hyphenated or compounded but instead separated by a space (e.g. Yat Sum). People outside Hong Kong often confuse the second syllables with middle names regardless of name order. Some computer systems could not handle given name inputs with space characters. Some Hong Kongers and Singaporeans may have an anglicised given name, always written in the Western order. The English and transliterated Chinese full names can be written in various orders. A hybrid order is preferred in official documents including the legislative records in the case for Hong Kong. Examples of the hybrid order goes in the form of Hong Kong actor “ Tony Leung Chiu-wai” or Singaporean politician "
Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai ( zh, c=黄循财, p=Huáng Xúncái; born 18 December 1972) is a Singaporean politician, economist and former civil servant who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore since 2022 alongside Heng Swee Keat ...
", with family names (in the example, Leung and Wong) shared in the middle. Therefore, the anglicised names are written in the Western order (Tony Leung, Lawrence Wong) and the Chinese names are written in the Eastern order (Leung Chiu-wai, 梁朝偉; Wong Shyun Tsai, 黄循财).


Japan

Japanese use the Eastern naming order (family name followed by given name). In contrast to China and Korea, due to familiarity, Japanese names of contemporary people are usually "switched" when people who have such names are mentioned in media in Western countries; for example, ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' is known as Junichiro Koizumi in English. Japan has requested that Western publications cease this practice of placing their names in the Western name order and revert to the Eastern name order. Hungarian names are also switched; Puskás Ferenc is known as
Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward, ...
.


Mongolia

Mongols use the Eastern naming order ( patronymic followed by given name), which is also used there when rendering the names of other East Asians and Hungarians. Russian and other Western names, however, are still written in Western order.


Southern India


=Telugu people from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

= Telugu people from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana traditionally use ''family name, given name'' order. The family name first format is different from North India where family name typically appears last or other parts of South India where patronymic names are widely used instead of family names.


=Tamil names

= Tamil people, generally for younger generations
caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
names are not employed as surnames. This came into common use in India and also the Tamil diaspora in nations like Singapore after the
Dravidian movement The Dravidian movement in British India started with the formation of the Justice Party on 20 November 1916 in Victoria Public Hall in Madras by C. Natesa Mudaliar along with T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series of non- ...
in 1930s and when the
Self respect movement The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhoo ...
in 1950s and 1960s campaigned against the use of one's caste as part of the name. Patronymic naming system is: apart from their given name, people are described by their patronymic, that is given names (not surnames) of their father. Older generations used the initials system where the father's given name appears as an initial, for eg:
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
people's names simply use initials as a prefix instead of
Patronymic suffix A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, al ...
(father's given name) and the initials is/ are prefixed or listed first and then followed by the son's/ daughter's given name. One system used for naming,Note:*
M. Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...
is a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He uses the initials system for his name. His given name is Karunanidhi, his father's given name is Muthuvel, he uses as his name M. Karunanidhi.

Note: *M.Karunanidhi's daughter

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (born 5 January 1968) is an Indian politician, poet and journalist. She is a Member of Parliament, representing Thoothukkudi Lok Sabha constituency, Thoothukkudi constituency in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliamen ...
uses the
patronymic suffix A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, al ...
naming system. Her given name is Kanimozhi, her father's given name is Karunanidhi, she uses as her name: Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.

using only given names (without using family name or surname) is as below: for Tamil Hindu son's name using the initials system: S. Rajeev: (initial S for father's given name Suresh and Rajeev is the son's given name). The same Tamil Hindu name using
Patronymic suffix A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, al ...
last name system is Rajeev Suresh meaning Rajeev son of Suresh (Rajeev (first is son's given name) followed by Suresh (father's given name)). As a result, unlike surnames, while using patronymic suffix the same last name will not pass down through many generations. For Tamil Hindu daughters, the initials naming system is the same, eg: S. Meena. Using the
Patronymic suffix A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, al ...
system it is Meena Suresh: meaning Meena daughter of Suresh; Meena (first is daughter's given name) followed by Suresh (father's given name). As a result, unlike surnames, while using patronymic suffix the same last name will not pass down through many generations. And after marriage the wife may or may not take her husband's given name as her last name instead of her father's. Eg: after marriage, Meena Jagadish: meaning Meena wife of Jagadish: Meena (first is wife's given name) followed by Jagadish (husband's given name).


Mordvins

Mordvins use two names – a Mordvin name and a Russian name. The Mordvin name is written in the Eastern name order. Usually, the Mordvin surname is the same as the Russian surname, for example Sharononj Sandra (Russian:
Aleksandr Sharonov :''This is a Mordvin name; the given name is Sandra.'' Aleksandr Markovich Sharonov (born 18 February 1942) (russian: Алекса́ндр Ма́ркович Шаро́нов, , alias Sharononj Sandra (Erzya language: Шарононь Сандра ...
), but it can be different at times, for example
Yovlan Olo Vladimir Ivanovich Romashkin or Yovlan Olo ( myv, Йовлань Оло, translit=Jovlań Olo, russian: Владимир Иванович Ромашкин; 6 September 1951, Dubyonsky District, Mordovian ASSR – 29 August 2002, Saransk, Russi ...
(Russian: Vladimir Romashkin).


Non-human personal names

Apart from the Linnaean taxonomy, some humans give individual non-human animals and plants names, usually of endearment. In onomastic classification, names of individual animals are called zoonyms, while names of individual plants are called phytonyms.


Names of pets

The practice of naming pets dates back at least to the 23rd century BC; an Egyptian inscription from that period mentions a dog named Abuwtiyuw. Many pet owners give human names to their pets. This has been shown to reflect the owner having a human-like relationship with the pet. The name given to a pet may refer to its appearance or personality, or be chosen for endearment, or in honor of a favorite celebrity. Pet names often reflect the owner's view of the animal, and the expectations they may have for it. Dog
breeders A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist, ...
often choose specific themes for their names, sometimes based on the number of the litter. In some countries, like Germany or Austria, names are chosen alphabetically, with names starting with 'A' for puppies from the first litter, 'B' for the second litter, and so on. A puppy called "Dagmar" would belong to a fourth litter. Dog owners can choose to keep the original name, or rename their pet. It has been argued that the giving of names to their pets allows researchers to view their pets as ontologically different from unnamed laboratory animals with which they work.


Dolphin names for each other

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims that humans are not the only animals that use personal names. Researchers from the University of North Carolina Wilmington studying
bottlenose dolphin Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the common ...
s in Sarasota Bay, Florida, found that the dolphins had names for each other. A dolphin chooses its name as an infant.


See also


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * *


Further reading

* Matthews, Elaine; Hornblower, Simon; Fraser, Peter Marshall
''Greek Personal Names: Their Value as Evidence''
Proceedings of the British Academy (104), Oxford University Press, 2000.


External links



* ttp://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names
Lexicon of Greek Personal Names
contains over 35,000 published Greek names. {{DEFAULTSORT:Personal Name Names Pejorative terms for people