| | 34 | ==== Names ==== |
| | 35 | |
| | 36 | Names are used to identify persons in human communication. However, names of persons do not have to be unique nor do they have to be exact, and thus are no reliable identity features. The following name fields are mandatory to exist in person records: |
| | 37 | |
| | 38 | - '''first_name''' the first names (or the only name) of the person, in romanized script |
| | 39 | - '''middle_name''' the person's middle name (if customary), in romanized script |
| | 40 | - '''last_name''' the last name (mostly the family name) of the person, in romanized script |
| | 41 | - '''local_name''' the full name of the person, in a local language and script |
| | 42 | |
| | 43 | '''Note:''' |
| | 44 | |
| | 45 | Any of these mandatory name fields may be empty in a particular record except ''first_name''. A name field value starting with a question mark '''?''' indicates that this part of the name is uncertain or unknown. |
| | 46 | |
| | 47 | 'first', 'middle' and 'last' refer rather to the usual writing order of a person's full name than to the meaning of the name parts. |
| | 48 | |
| | 49 | There is no need to split the full name into segments if that is not customary in the person's country of origin - in such case ''first_name'' should represent the person's full name. |
| | 50 | |
| | 51 | In case there are multiple local languages to represent the person's name, the ''local_name'' should be in the language/script that is most likely readable by that person and/or their relatives. |
| | 52 | |
| | 53 | An application may define additional name fields to represent e.g. titles, nicknames or pseudonyms, however, these additional fields must not be used to repeat or replace any of the mandatory fields. |
