5 ms·

What’s in an Author Name?

18 points by samclemens 9y ago

CM30 9y ago
There are also various examples of authors choosing different names for different works to either seperate their works by genre or test how they'd do without their fame attached to them (see Steven King's usage of Richard Bachman or JK Rowling as Robert Galbraith). Or just examples of authors using their pen names as a character in the series (see Lemony Snicket). Which incidentally is why websites should probably not try and force users into a 'real name policy', since in many cases the pseudonym used can be part of their identity on the service and how they want to present themselves.
barbegal 9y ago
It's interesting that different cultures use names in different ways. I always hate it when websites give me a form to fill in where you must specify first name, middle name and surname. In a lot of the world this just doesn't make sense. Almost everyone has a name though so just have a name field that allows Unicode and allow people to put whatever they feel like naming themselves. In addition names can't be used to uniquely identify people and relying on them in some cultures is a bad idea. In Korea in particular, family names are pretty common so most people have the exact same name as thousands of other people. It is also quite easy to change name in Korea. For that reason lots of Korean services use other information to identify their customers. The most commonly used identifier is a mobile phone number which in turn is linked to a resident registration number.
- stronglikedan 9y ago
  There are very few people that don't have a first name and a surname. The first name is what people generally refer to you as (or some variant of it). The full name is the "legal" name. Therefore, I think it makes sense to collect two separate parts of a name (with an optional middle name). E.g., my website will greet you with the first name after a successful login, but will pass your full name to the credit card processor when you purchase my product. IMHO, "Welcome Daniel A. Daman!" is not as friendly a greeting as "Welcome Dan!".
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > There are very few people that don't have a first name and a surname. There are very few people who don't have one or more personal names and one or more family names, and a full legal name (which probably incorporates some or all of those from the prior categories.) “first name” for one of the first and “surname” for one of the second is culture-specific, and thus inaccurate for many. > E.g., my website will greet you with the first name after a successful login, but will pass your full name to the credit card processor when you purchase my product. IMHO, "Welcome Daniel A. Daman!" is not as friendly a greeting as "Welcome Dan!". That the first name is an appropriate, friendly form of address in a particular context is extremely culturally loaded (even on top of the loading that assumes that the first name is a personal name.)
    - frockington 9y ago
      If you are creating a website targeting people in a Western culture (most websites), I do not see any harm in optimizing for their user experience. Catering towards demographics outside of your target audience may do more harm than good.
      - astura 9y ago
        What's a "western culture?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs
        frockington 9y ago
        NA, Europe and wealthy China. I'm sure Spanish people are familiar with first and last name concepts and have learned over the years how to handle such forms without second thought
  - logfromblammo 9y ago
    The nickname and full name fields may be stored separately. It is usually a mistake to synthesize one from the other. It is very easy to make assumptions about names that turn out to be unfounded, just like with calendars, dates, times, and time zones. If you even dip one toe into the rough waters of international variations, you will do as much as possible to keep other people's assumptions from becoming your problems. It suffices to say that a name should be a single field that accepts a variable number of unicode characters, and you shouldn't try to cleverly parse anything out of it. Just regurgitate back verbatim whatever the user told you whenever you need to use a name. If someone says their name is "Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel" for the love of your own sanity, don't try to figure out which part counts as the surname. "Mister.... ah... Fin, is it?" "Oh no, 'Mister Fin' is my grand-step-uncle-in-law. I'm Frau Professor Doktor Doktor F'tang!" "And if someone were to address you informally?" "My friends call me 'Knughcentszhe'." "And that's pronounced...?" "Nuisance." "Never a more fitting nickname."
briandear 9y ago
I admit that when I seek out spy novels, I gravitate towards male writers, based on the few times, I’ve read female-penned works. However, there are some “male” writers who are actually female. I am admittedly sexist when it comes to Ludlam/Clancy type books. Though travelogues, literary novels and such, the author’s gender has no effect on my choices. I suppose if I read romances, I’d seek out female writers. Totally sexist, I know but I perceive differences.

18 points by samclemens 9y ago

CM30 9y ago

There are also various examples of authors choosing different names for different works to either seperate their works by genre or test how they'd do without their fame attached to them (see Steven King's usage of Richard Bachman or JK Rowling as Robert Galbraith). Or just examples of authors using their pen names as a character in the series (see Lemony Snicket). Which incidentally is why websites should probably not try and force users into a 'real name policy', since in many cases the pseudonym used can be part of their identity on the service and how they want to present themselves.

barbegal 9y ago

It's interesting that different cultures use names in different ways. I always hate it when websites give me a form to fill in where you must specify first name, middle name and surname. In a lot of the world this just doesn't make sense. Almost everyone has a name though so just have a name field that allows Unicode and allow people to put whatever they feel like naming themselves. In addition names can't be used to uniquely identify people and relying on them in some cultures is a bad idea. In Korea in particular, family names are pretty common so most people have the exact same name as thousands of other people. It is also quite easy to change name in Korea. For that reason lots of Korean services use other information to identify their customers. The most commonly used identifier is a mobile phone number which in turn is linked to a resident registration number.

stronglikedan 9y ago
There are very few people that don't have a first name and a surname. The first name is what people generally refer to you as (or some variant of it). The full name is the "legal" name. Therefore, I think it makes sense to collect two separate parts of a name (with an optional middle name). E.g., my website will greet you with the first name after a successful login, but will pass your full name to the credit card processor when you purchase my product. IMHO, "Welcome Daniel A. Daman!" is not as friendly a greeting as "Welcome Dan!".
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > There are very few people that don't have a first name and a surname. There are very few people who don't have one or more personal names and one or more family names, and a full legal name (which probably incorporates some or all of those from the prior categories.) “first name” for one of the first and “surname” for one of the second is culture-specific, and thus inaccurate for many. > E.g., my website will greet you with the first name after a successful login, but will pass your full name to the credit card processor when you purchase my product. IMHO, "Welcome Daniel A. Daman!" is not as friendly a greeting as "Welcome Dan!". That the first name is an appropriate, friendly form of address in a particular context is extremely culturally loaded (even on top of the loading that assumes that the first name is a personal name.)
  - frockington 9y ago
    If you are creating a website targeting people in a Western culture (most websites), I do not see any harm in optimizing for their user experience. Catering towards demographics outside of your target audience may do more harm than good.
    - astura 9y ago
      What's a "western culture?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs
      - frockington 9y ago
        NA, Europe and wealthy China. I'm sure Spanish people are familiar with first and last name concepts and have learned over the years how to handle such forms without second thought
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  The nickname and full name fields may be stored separately. It is usually a mistake to synthesize one from the other. It is very easy to make assumptions about names that turn out to be unfounded, just like with calendars, dates, times, and time zones. If you even dip one toe into the rough waters of international variations, you will do as much as possible to keep other people's assumptions from becoming your problems. It suffices to say that a name should be a single field that accepts a variable number of unicode characters, and you shouldn't try to cleverly parse anything out of it. Just regurgitate back verbatim whatever the user told you whenever you need to use a name. If someone says their name is "Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel" for the love of your own sanity, don't try to figure out which part counts as the surname. "Mister.... ah... Fin, is it?" "Oh no, 'Mister Fin' is my grand-step-uncle-in-law. I'm Frau Professor Doktor Doktor F'tang!" "And if someone were to address you informally?" "My friends call me 'Knughcentszhe'." "And that's pronounced...?" "Nuisance." "Never a more fitting nickname."

briandear 9y ago

I admit that when I seek out spy novels, I gravitate towards male writers, based on the few times, I’ve read female-penned works. However, there are some “male” writers who are actually female. I am admittedly sexist when it comes to Ludlam/Clancy type books. Though travelogues, literary novels and such, the author’s gender has no effect on my choices. I suppose if I read romances, I’d seek out female writers. Totally sexist, I know but I perceive differences.