Apersonal name,full name orprosoponym (fromAncient Greekprósōpon – person, andonoma –name)[1] is the set ofnames by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as aword-group, they all relate to that one individual.[2] In many cultures, the term is synonymous with thebirth name orlegal name of the individual. Inlinguistic classification, personal names are studied within a specificonomastic discipline, calledanthroponymy.[3] As of 2023, aside from humans, dolphins and elephants have been known to use personal names.[citation needed]
InWestern culture, nearly all individuals possess at least onegiven name (also known as afirst name,forename, orChristian name), together with asurname (also known as alast name orfamily name). In the name "James Smith", for example,James is the first name andSmith 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 theArabic culture 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.[4]
Some cultures, including Western ones, also add (or once added)patronymics ormatronymics, for instance as a middle name as withPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (whose father's given name was Ilya), or as a last name as withBjörk Guðmundsdóttir (whose father is namedGuðmundur) orHeiðar Helguson (whose mother was named Helga). Similar concepts are present inEastern cultures. However, in some areas of the world, many people are known by a single name, and so are said to bemononymous. Still other cultures lack the concept of specific, fixed names designating people, either individually or collectively. Certain isolated tribes, such as theMachiguenga of the Amazon, do not use personal names.[i]
A person's personal name is usually their fulllegal name; however, some people use only part of their full legal name, atitle,nickname,pseudonym or other chosen name that is different from their legal name, and reserve their legal name for legal and administrative purposes.
It is nearly universal for people to have names; theUnited NationsConvention on the Rights of the Child declares that a child has the right to a name from birth.[7]
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Common components of names given at birth can include:
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, the second surname is sometimes informally used alone if the first one is too common to allow an easy identification. For example, former Spanish Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is often called justZapatero. In Argentina, only the father's last name is used, in most cases.
In most Portuguese-speaking countries typicallytwo surnames are used, sometimes 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 Manuel de Oliveira Guterres would therefore be known commonly asAntónio Guterres.
InRussia, the first name and family name conform to the usual Western practice, but the middle name ispatronymic.[8] Thus, all the children of Ivan Volkov would be named "[first name] Ivanovich Volkov" if male, or "[first name] Ivanovna Volkova" if female (-ovich meaning "son of", -ovna meaning "daughter of",[9] 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".[10]
In many families, single or multiplemiddle 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. ManyCatholic families choose asaint's name as their child's middle name or this can be left until the child'sconfirmation when they choose a saint's name for themselves. Cultures that usepatronymics ormatronymics 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 (calledanonyms) choose to beanonymous, 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 apseudonym.
For some people, their name is a single word, known as amononym. This can be true from birth, or occur later in life. For example,Teller, of the magician duoPenn and Teller, 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 hisdriver's license, his given name is listed asNFN, an initialism for "no first name".
TheInuit believe that thesouls of thenamesakes are one, so they traditionally refer to the junior namesakes, not just by the names (atiq), but also bykinship title, which applies across gender and generation without implications of disrespect or seniority.
InJudaism, someone's name is considered intimately connected with their fate, and adding a name (e.g. on the sickbed) may avert a particular danger. AmongAshkenazi Jews it is also considered bad luck to take the name of a living ancestor, as theAngel of Death may mistake the younger person for their namesake (although there is no such custom amongSephardi Jews). Jews may also have a Jewish name for intra-community use and use a different name when engaging with theGentile world.
Chinese andJapanese emperors receiveposthumous names.
In somePolynesian cultures, the name of a deceased chief becomestaboo. If he is named after a common object or concept, a different word has to be used for it.
InCameroon, there is "a great deal of mobility" within naming structure. Some Cameroonians, particularly Anglophone Cameroonians, use "a characteristic sequencing" starting with a first surname, followed by a forename then a second surname (e.g. Awanto Josephine Nchang), while others begin with a forename followed by first and then second surnames (e.g. Josephine Awanto Nchang). The latter structure is rare in Francophone Cameroon, however, where a third structure prevails: First surname, second surname, forename (e.g. Awanto Nchang Josephine).[11]
Depending on national convention, additional given names (and sometimestitles) are considered part of the name.
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Theroyalty,nobility, andgentry 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 insmall capital 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 theMarquis de La Fayette. He possessed both the lands of Motier and La Fayette.
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 theDuke of Gloucester). As a development, the bare name of a ship in theRoyal Navy meant its captain (e.g., "Cressy didn't learn from Aboukir") while the name with an article referred to the ship (e.g., "TheCressy is foundering").
A personal naming system, or anthroponymic system, is a system describing the choice of personal name in a certain society. Personal names consist of one or more parts, such asgiven name,surname andpatronymic. Personal naming systems are studied within the field ofanthroponymy.
In contemporary Western societies (except for Iceland, Hungary, and sometimesFlanders, depending on the occasion), the most common naming convention is that a person must have agiven name, which is usually gender-specific, followed by the parents'family name. Inonomastic terminology, given names of male persons are calledandronyms (fromAncient Greek ἀνήρ / man, and ὄνομα / name),[12] while given names of female persons are calledgynonyms (fromAncient Greek γυνή / woman, and ὄνομα / name).[13]
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,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 theFaroe 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).
There is a range of personal naming systems:[14]
Different cultures have different conventions for personal names.
When names are repeated across generations, the senior or junior generation (or both) may be designed with thename suffix "Sr." or "Jr.", respectively (in the former case, retrospectively); or, more formally, by anordinalRoman number such as "I", "II" or "III". In the Catholic tradition, papal names are distinguished in sequence, and may be reused many times, such asJohn XXIII (the 23rd pope assuming the papal name "John").
In the case of the American presidentsGeorge H. W. Bush and his sonGeorge W. Bush, distinct middle initials serve this purpose instead, necessitating their more frequent use. The improvised and unofficial "Bush Sr." and "Bush Jr." were nevertheless tossed about in banter on manyentertainment journalism opinion panels; alternatively, they became distinguished merely as "W." and "H. W.".
In formal address, personal names may be preceded bypre-nominal letters, giving title (e.g. Dr.,Captain), or social rank, which is commonly gendered (e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss.) and might additionally conveymarital status. Historically, professional titles such as "Doctor" and "Reverend" were largely confined to male professions, so these were implicitly gendered.
In formal address, personal names, inclusive of a generational designation, if any, may be followed by one or morepost-nominal letters giving office, honour, decoration, accreditation, or formal affiliation.
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The ordergiven name(s), family name is commonly known as theWestern name order and is usually used in Western European countries and in non-Western European countries that have cultures predominantly influenced by Western Europe (e.g. the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand). It is also used in non-Western regions such asNorthern,Eastern,Central andWestern India; Pakistan; Bangladesh; Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand; Saudi Arabia; Indonesia (non-traditional); Singapore; Malaysia (most of, non-traditional); and the Philippines.
Within alphabetic lists and catalogs, however, the family name is generally put first, with the given name(s) following and separated by acomma (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,[16] 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. In the USSR and now Russia, personal initials are often written in the "family name - given name - patronymic name" order when signing official documents (Russian:ФИО,romanized: FIO), e.g. "Rachmaninoff S.V.".
The orderfamily name, given name, commonly known as theEastern name order, began to be prominently used inAncient China[17] and subsequently influenced theEast Asian cultural sphere (China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam) and particularly among the Chinese communities in Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, or the Philippines. It is also used in thesouthern andnortheastern parts of India, and by theKhmer[18][19] andHmong[20] ofSoutheast Asia, as well as inCentral Europe byHungary andRomania, along with theSouth Estonians andMordvins of theformer Soviet Union. In Uganda, the ordering "traditional family name first, Western origin given name second" is also frequently used.[21]
When East Asian names aretransliterated into theLatin alphabet, some people prefer to convert them to the Western order, while others leave them in the Eastern order but write the family name incapital letters. 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.Mijazaki Hajao in Hungarian), but Western name order is also sometimes used with English transliteration (e.g. Hayao Miyazaki). This is also true for Hungarian names in Japanese, e.g.Ferenc Puskás (Japanese:プシュカーシュ・フェレンツ, written in the same Eastern order "Puskás Ferenc").
Starting from theMeiji Restoration in 1868, the Western name order was primarily used among the Japanese nobility when identifying themselves to non-Asians with theirromanized names. As a result, in popular Western publications, this order became increasingly used for Japanese names in the subsequent decades.[22] In 2020, theGovernment of Japan reverted the Westernized name order back to the Eastern name order in official documents (e.g.identity documents,academic certificates,birth certificates,marriage certificates, among others), which means writing family name first in capital letters and has recommended that the same format be used among the general Japanese public.[23]
Japan has also requested Western publications to respect this change, such as not usingShinzo Abe but rather Abe Shinzo, similar to how Chinese leaderXi Jinping is not referred to as Jinping Xi.[24] Its sluggish response by Western publications was met with ire by Japanese politicianTaro Kono, who stated that "If you can writeMoon Jae-in andXi Jinping in correct order, you can surely write Abe Shinzo the same way."[25]
Chinese, Koreans, 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.[26]
In China,Cantonese names ofHong Kong people are usually written in the Eastern order with or without a comma (e.g. Bai Chiu En or Bai, Chiu En). Outside Hong Kong, they are usually written in Western order. Unlike other East Asian countries, the syllables orlogograms of given names are not hyphenated or compounded but instead separated by a space (e.g. Chiu En). Outside East Asia, the second syllables are often confused with middle names regardless of name order. Some computer systems could not handle given name inputs with space characters.
Some Chinese, Malaysians and Singaporeans may have an anglicised given name, which is 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 thelegislative 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 Singapore Prime Minister "Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai", 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).
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 asJunichiro 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.[23]
Mongols use the Eastern naming order (patronymic followed by given name), which is also used there when rendering the names of other East Asians. However, Russian and other Western names (with the exception of Hungarian names) are still written in Western order.
Telugu people fromAndhra Pradesh andTelangana traditionally usefamily name, given name order.[27] The family name first format is different fromNorth India where family name typically appears last or other parts of South India wherepatronymic names are widely used instead of family names.[28]
Tamil people, generally those of younger generations, do not employcaste names as surnames. This came into common use in India and also theTamil diaspora in nations like Singapore after theDravidian movement in 1930s, when theSelf respect movement in the 1950s and 1960s campaigned against the use of one's caste[29][30] 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:TamilHindu people's names simply use initials as a prefix instead ofPatronymic suffix (father's given name) and the initials is/ are prefixed or listed first and then followed by the son's/ daughter's given name.
| Sex | Person's given name | Father's given name | Patronymic initials prefix naming system | Patronymic suffix naming system | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Rajeev | Suresh | S. Rajeev | Rajeev Suresh | Rajeev son of Suresh |
| Female | Meena | Suresh | S. Meena | Meena Suresh | Meena daughter of Suresh |
One system used for naming,[31] using only given names (without using family name or surname) is as below: for Tamil Hindu son's name using the initials[32] system: S. Rajeev: (initial S for father's given name Suresh and Rajeev is the son's given name). The same Tamil Hindu name usingPatronymic suffix 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[31] system is the same, eg: S. Meena. Using thePatronymic suffix 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[33] 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).
Hungary is one of the few Western countries to use the Eastern naming order where the given name is placed after the family name.[34]
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), but it can be different at times, for exampleYovlan Olo (Russian: Vladimir Romashkin).
In official documents as well as in verbal speech, the Family name comes in first before the Given name when the full name is spelled out.
InSouth Estonian the names are written in the Eastern name order.
In a 2006 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences researchers from the University of North Carolina Wilmington studyingbottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay, Florida, found that the dolphins had names for each other.[35] A dolphin chooses its name as an infant.[36]
According to a 2024 article of a study of elephant calls inAmboseli National Park, Kenya andSamburu National Reserve andBuffalo Springs National Reserves between 1986 and 2022 done with machine learning, elephants learn, recognize and use individualized name-like calls.[37]
The practice of naming pets dates back at least to the 23rd century BC. An Egyptian inscription from that period mentions a dog namedAbuwtiyuw.[38]
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.[39] The name given to a pet may refer to its appearance[39] or personality,[39] or be chosen forendearment,[39] or in honor of a favoritecelebrity.[40] Pet names often reflect the owner's view of the animal, and the expectations they may have for it.[41][42]
Dogbreeders often choose specific themes for their names, sometimes based on the number of thelitter.[43] 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.[44]
It has been argued that the giving of names to their pets allows researchers to view their pets asontologically different from unnamedlaboratory animals with which they work.[45]
Note: *M.Karunanidhi's daughterKanimozhi Karunanidhi uses thepatronymic suffix naming system. Her given name is Kanimozhi, her father's given name is Karunanidhi, she uses as her name:Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.
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