4 ms·

This is unrelated to the actual link, but I am always surprised by the English language tendency to - for the lack of a better word - smash names together. Yan

by dakdak 6y ago

This is unrelated to the actual link, but I am always surprised by the English language tendency to - for the lack of a better word - smash names together. Yann LeCun is called Yann Le Cun [0] in French, but "Le" and "Cun" are smashed together in English. Lafayette [2] is of course called La Fayette [3]. Du Pont becomes DuPont, and so on. [0] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_Le_Cun https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_Le_Cun [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_LeCun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_LeCun [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_... [3] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier_de_La_Fayette https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier_de_La_Fayett...

mkl 6y ago
Two word surnames are unusual in English, and the "Le", "La" etc. could easily be misinterpreted as a middle name, leading to wrong names like "Yann Cun". English surname prefixes like "Mac", "Mc", "Fitz", "O" [1] are generally attached to the name that follows (sometimes with the second part capitalised, sometimes not), so there is an old and widespread convention being followed here. Nowadays it's easier to search for or use as a username too. Yann LeCun spells his own name like that: http://yann.lecun.com/ http://yann.lecun.com/ [1] These are actually Celtic originally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_onomastics#Surnames https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_onomastics#Surnames
lnyan 6y ago
Yann Le Cun modified the spelling of his name to Yan LeCun in English by himself. [No, Your Name can't possibly be pronounced that way] http://yann.lecun.com/ex/fun/index.html#gellman http://yann.lecun.com/ex/fun/index.html#gellman
rodelrod 6y ago
Well there's about 1.5M Portuguese nationals and/or descendants in France and the French still can't figure out our naming system or account for it in their bureaucracy, so I'm not sure that the anglos stand out in that regard. Only 200 years ago a Pedro became Pierre upon moving to Paris then Piotr after a couple days in Moscow and everybody was fine with that.
- rdrey 6y ago
  My wife and I decided to have our kid in Portugal so he could get both of our surnames without adding hyphens or changing our own surnames. If we had opted to have him in Germany we would have all had to adopt a single (probably hyphenated) "family name".
taneq 6y ago
I'm sorry, Mr Firstname Lastname, you can only have two names and you cannot have spaces in your names.
gen220 6y ago
this is a good opportunity to revive this [1], for the people who haven't had the fun of reading it yet! :) [1]: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-...

by dakdak 6y ago

mkl 6y ago

Two word surnames are unusual in English, and the "Le", "La" etc. could easily be misinterpreted as a middle name, leading to wrong names like "Yann Cun". English surname prefixes like "Mac", "Mc", "Fitz", "O" [1] are generally attached to the name that follows (sometimes with the second part capitalised, sometimes not), so there is an old and widespread convention being followed here. Nowadays it's easier to search for or use as a username too. Yann LeCun spells his own name like that: http://yann.lecun.com/ http://yann.lecun.com/ [1] These are actually Celtic originally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_onomastics#Surnames https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_onomastics#Surnames

lnyan 6y ago

Yann Le Cun modified the spelling of his name to Yan LeCun in English by himself. [No, Your Name can't possibly be pronounced that way] http://yann.lecun.com/ex/fun/index.html#gellman http://yann.lecun.com/ex/fun/index.html#gellman

rodelrod 6y ago

Well there's about 1.5M Portuguese nationals and/or descendants in France and the French still can't figure out our naming system or account for it in their bureaucracy, so I'm not sure that the anglos stand out in that regard. Only 200 years ago a Pedro became Pierre upon moving to Paris then Piotr after a couple days in Moscow and everybody was fine with that.

rdrey 6y ago
My wife and I decided to have our kid in Portugal so he could get both of our surnames without adding hyphens or changing our own surnames. If we had opted to have him in Germany we would have all had to adopt a single (probably hyphenated) "family name".

taneq 6y ago

I'm sorry, Mr Firstname Lastname, you can only have two names and you cannot have spaces in your names.

gen220 6y ago

this is a good opportunity to revive this [1], for the people who haven't had the fun of reading it yet! :) [1]: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-...