Re: Usage of "first name/last name" (Re: Expressing fractions)

From: Alan Jones (atj_at_blueyonder.co.uk)
Date: 01/11/05 

Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 21:12:36 GMT

"Tak To" <takto@alum.mit.edu.-> wrote in message
news:XrSdnQz27pSKlX7cRVn-vQ@comcast.com...

[...]
> By "English style" here, I meant a personal name that is made up of a
> last name/surname/family name and a first name/given name (as explained
> above), plus zero or more "middle names" and an optional generational
> indicator (senior, junior, III, etc). The order is not of concerned
> here.
[...]

In both the UK and the US, I think, the distinctive personal name, as you
describe it ["associated with the individual rather than the (nuclear)
family"] may be any of the "middle names" or indeed a name other than any
formally associated with the individual. I don't mean a "pet name" such as
"Bill" for William, or a nickname, but a standard, regular name that the
individual has decided to adopt. The only certainty is that it will not be
the last element in the full name (or the last-but-one if we include the
unEnglish use of "III" or "Jnr"). So we know at least where the surname
comes in a full name. Is there any way, without knowing the individual, of
telling which part of a Chinese-style full name is the surname/family name,
which might in America or Europe get the prefix "Mr"?

Alan Jones

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