I worked with a man who had no middle name (Vankatesh Presaud), but the networking people needed a middle initial because three letters were required for a login. So he was given an "I" as a middle initial for network access, and became VIP.
On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 7:07 AM, Philip Newton <philip.new...@gmail.com>wrote: > 2009/10/15 Aristotle Pagaltzis <pagalt...@gmx.de>: > > Yes, it's complicated, but it's also the only way to do it right. > > Intersections between culture and computing are invariably > > complex and complicated. See also: writing systems; calendars and > > clocks; person names. > > Speaking of which, I pity the people who have a personal name but no > family name, and so don't fit neatly into the "first name - last name" > mould of so many websites out there (or, worse, the "first name - > middle initial - last name; all fields mandatory" mould). > > Though I'm not sure whether to pity them more or those who do > conventionally use two names but which are not "given name, family > name" (for example, those Indians who put their father's given name in > front of their own, so the second name is their given name, not their > family name, and their "first name" isn't really theirs at all; or > Icelanders, whose second name is a patronymic in most cases, rather > than a family name, and who are typically addressed by their given > name rather than as "Mr Paul's Son"). > > Cheers, > Philip > -- > Philip Newton <philip.new...@gmail.com> > >
