🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9301111916.AA18613@gateway.mitre.org> epg@gateway.mitre.org ("Ella P. Gardner") writes:
>The 1992 edition of the Directory standard has an initials attribute type.
>The editor's draft of part 6 from the October 1991 Orlando meeting says:
>
>The Initials attribute type contains the initials of some or all of an
>individual's names, but not the surname(s),
>An attribute value for Initials is a string, e.g. "D" or "D." or "J.P."

Damn. And I thought X.500 had avoided all the nonsense that plague
X.400 O/R addresses.

I'd be interested in arguments _for_ the provision of an 'initial'
attribute and the benefits the provision of this attribute is expected
to provide.

The basic argument _against_ is that the structure of human names
varies so much from society to society that attempting to split the
name into components is a pointless exercise. Even the provision of
'surname' is not necessarily useful in all cultures. In Indonesia,
for example, it is apparently common to have only one name, and not
to have a surname (or equivalent). (Source: 'Naming Systems of Ethnic
Groups', Dept. of Social Security, Australia).

By providing attributes to store naming components, two things occur.

First, databases are designed assuming that such fields always occur.
The same DSS book, for example, suggests that when an Indonesian name
without a surname is entered into their computer system, the name
should be entered into the family name field and a title (e.g. 'Mr')
should be entered into the given name field and the title field should
be blank.

Second, software will be written that assumes that naming components
have certain relationships. An example: that the surname always
occurs last (a quick search of the DSS book shows just how frequently
this assumption -- common in Anglo-Saxon communities -- is wrong).

Finally, if we are going to have an attribute to store one type of
name component, why not other types? The sex indicator in Vietnamese
names or the generational name in Chinese names, for example.

Name components just open up a whole can of worms for little or no
benefit as far as I can see.

Andrew Waugh