Why no middle name?
Jan 20, 2020, 4:52 pm
#17
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I wasn't clear. It's never come up in relation to air travel, but in other common interactions involving ID, like banking or insurance. And it's not obtrusive. Just the "no middle name?" And most every one I know has a middle name, so I get the question.
Jan 20, 2020, 7:56 pm
#18
Join Date: Aug 2002
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I usually put my middle name in the field for First Name or Given Name (just in case of any issues) when booking. But like others have said, I've also not had any issues with BA but it's just a habit I have especially when travelling with other carriers.
E.g.
Given Name: FIRSTNAME MIDDLENAME
Surname: SURNAME
E.g.
Given Name: FIRSTNAME MIDDLENAME
Surname: SURNAME
Jan 20, 2020, 8:09 pm
#19
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Asian airlines, and particularly Cathay Pacific, care about middle names due to most Chinese names being three characters. There are fewer family names in Chinese than there are in western names, and the first character of the given name within a family is often the same for all children.
Jan 20, 2020, 11:32 pm
#20
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: BNE, AU
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Mrs Aus ATC has a hyphenated first name, but no middle name. Invariably a drama, as many systems cannot accommodate the "-". We either just book her with the first part (by which she is commonly known), or sometimes string the 2 parts together.
Jan 21, 2020, 12:05 am
#21
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incidentally I hate it when hosts have booked my ticket and included middle name or title as you then need to enter the exact combination they chose under first name to retrieve a booking...
.
Jan 21, 2020, 2:12 am
#23
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Ipswich
Posts: 7,543
My pet hate on name conventions is using firstname middle initial lastname such as Jane B Gomez. I see it a lot in the US. To me it is neither fish nor fowl. Use the name or don't use it but putting the middle initial in is just ugly.
And then some people introduce themselves in that form too. My middle name has the same number of syllables as its initial, so it's not even saving any breath.
And then some people introduce themselves in that form too. My middle name has the same number of syllables as its initial, so it's not even saving any breath.
Jan 21, 2020, 2:41 am
#25
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Asian airlines, and particularly Cathay Pacific, care about middle names due to most Chinese names being three characters. There are fewer family names in Chinese than there are in western names, and the first character of the given name within a family is often the same for all children.
Jan 21, 2020, 2:51 am
#26
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Hampshire, UK
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Asian airlines, and particularly Cathay Pacific, care about middle names due to most Chinese names being three characters. There are fewer family names in Chinese than there are in western names, and the first character of the given name within a family is often the same for all children.
Jan 21, 2020, 3:03 am
#27
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: The North
Posts: 1,844
The above discussion on the intricacies of names in different cultural contexts reminds me of this nearly ten year old blog post, Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names.
The whole thing is worth a read if you’re interested in this kind of thing, and is too long to quote fully, but it is a witty exposition of the assumptions programmers (and all of us) instinctively make on this topic due to our own cultural backgrounds.
The whole thing is worth a read if you’re interested in this kind of thing, and is too long to quote fully, but it is a witty exposition of the assumptions programmers (and all of us) instinctively make on this topic due to our own cultural backgrounds.
I have lived in Japan for several years, programming in a professional capacity, and I have broken many systems by the simple expedient of being introduced into them. ... I’ve worked with Big Freaking Enterprises which, by dint of doing business globally, have theoretically designed their systems to allow all names to work in them. I have never seen a computer system which handles names properly and doubt one exists, anywhere.
So, as a public service, I’m going to list assumptions your systems probably make about names. All of these assumptions are wrong. Try to make less of them next time you write a system which touches names.
So, as a public service, I’m going to list assumptions your systems probably make about names. All of these assumptions are wrong. Try to make less of them next time you write a system which touches names.
- People have exactly one canonical full name.
- People have exactly one full name which they go by.
- People have, at this point in time, exactly one canonical full name.
- People have, at this point in time, one full name which they go by.
- People have exactly N names, for any value of N.
- People’s names fit within a certain defined amount of space.
- People’s names do not change.
- People’s names change, but only at a certain enumerated set of events.
- People’s first names and last names are, by necessity, different.
- People have last names, family names, or anything else which is shared by folks recognized as their relatives.
- People’s names are globally unique.
- People’s names are almost globally unique.
- Alright alright but surely people’s names are diverse enough such that no million people share the same name.
- My system will never have to deal with names from China.
- Or Japan.
- Or Korea.
- Or Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Russia, Sweden, Botswana, South Africa, Trinidad, Haiti, France, or the Klingon Empire, all of which have “weird” naming schemes in common use.
Jan 21, 2020, 3:03 am
#28
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I have a middle name but I never use it; neither for air travel - I have never had any issues (I have taken hundreds of flights). Adding the middle name only complicates things.
Jan 21, 2020, 3:23 am
#30
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