On 24May2024 1101, Jeff Zeitlin - editor at freelancetraveller.com (via
tml list) wrote:

> I'm actually aware of violations of several of those assumptions:

Number 5 was a common one. So many system assumed (and still assume)
that you will have one or two first names, and one surname. I have three
first names (not that uncommon in Anglo countries), and do not use the
first of my names as my 'using' name (also not that uncommon). Yet,
despite these not being uncommon, so very many systems, databases, and
programs refused to accept one of both of these. It's gooten better in
the last decade, but I still run into problems from time to time.

> 32/33/34/35/36: Several "native American" cultures have a rite of passage
> often called a "vision quest" in popular literature, after which the
> postulant selects his/her own name. This vision quest usually happens
> around the age that the postulant can potentially be considered an adult
> within the culture's social context.

Historically there were a number of cultures where names were changed
after significant events, and changing of epithets (which would end up
in the 'surname' field of many databases) was very common before
governments developed a hard-on for having permanent records of all
their citizens.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>