[wp-trac] Re: [WordPress Trac] #6148: Internationalization of personal names

[WordPress Trac]

#6148: Internationalization of personal names
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 Reporter:  aradams                                              |        Owner:  anonymous
     Type:  enhancement                                          |       Status:  new      
 Priority:  normal                                               |    Milestone:  2.6      
Component:  i18n                                                 |      Version:           
 Severity:  normal                                               |   Resolution:           
 Keywords:  personal names, internationalization, cultural bias  |  
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Comment (by aradams):

 Rather than reinvent the wheel, might we look to the
 [http://microformats.org/wiki/hcard hcard Microformat] for ways to handle
 name structures? Specifically, using the '''n''', '''fn''',
 '''nickname''', and '''sort-string''' properties:

 [http://microformats.org/wiki?title=hcard-examples-
 rfc2426&redirect=no#3.1.2_N_Type_Definition n type]:

 {{{
 <span class="n">
  <span class="honorific-prefix">Mr.</span>
  <span class="given-name">John</span>
  <span class="additional-name">Quinlan</span>
  <span class="family-name">Public</span>,
  <span class="honorific-suffix">Esq.</span>
 </span>
 }}}



 [http://microformats.org/wiki?title=hcard-examples-
 rfc2426&redirect=no#3.1.1_FN_Type_Definition fn type]:


 {{{
 <span class="fn">Mr. John Q. Public, Esq.</span>
 }}}

 [http://microformats.org/wiki?title=hcard-examples-
 rfc2426&redirect=no#3.1.3_NICKNAME_Type_Definition nickname type]:


 {{{
 <span class="nickname">Jim</span>,
 <span class="nickname">Jimmie</span>
 }}}

 [http://microformats.org/wiki?title=hcard-examples-rfc2426&redirect=no#3.6
 .5_SORT-STRING_Type_Definition sort-string type]:


 {{{
 <span class="fn n">
  <span class="additional-name">Robert</span>
  <span class="family-name sort-string">Pau</span>
  <span class="given-name">Shou Chang</span>
 </span>


 }}}

 I disagree that name sorting doesn't relate to i18n; one can find abundant
 examples of confusion arising due to cultural differences in the ways
 people are named. For example, with my full name: Adrienne Rice Adams. My
 "first" name is my given name, my "middle" name is my "maiden" name, and
 my "last" name is my father's family name. I live in the US, and when
 people find out that I kept my maiden name they want to hyphenate it so:
 Rice-Adams. In that case my name would sort by "R" -- but I go by Adams,
 so I want to be sorted by "A." In the UK, compound last names are often
 not hyphenated, so in the UK I could be Adrienne Rice Adams (sorted R) OR
 Adrienne Rice Adams (sorted A). No one but I know how to properly sort my
 last name, so why not ask me?

 Same thing with nicknames and display names. Some people go by a nickname
 that has no relation to their  "family" or "given" names. Some people
 change their name informally but not legally. In some countries the legal
 name is different from the everyday name. In all cases, one could easily
 err in assuming which names are "first," "last," the order in which they
 should display, and which name should be used as the sort key.
 Flexibility is essential.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6148#comment:2>
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