The prime minister of Ethiopia is Abiy Ahmed. When he won the Nobel Peace Prize, he was referred to as Mr Abiy, which is his given name. Ahmed is his father's n

The prime minister of Ethiopia is Abiy Ahmed. When he won the Nobel Peace Prize, he was referred to as Mr Abiy, which is his given name. Ahmed is his father's name, and it would be incorrect to refer to him as Mr Ahmed. Likewise, many Tamil people often have a first name and a patronymic, which may just be referred to with an initial. Example: S. Ramanujan. Ramanujan is his given name, Srinivasa is his father's name. In Indonesia, the government doesn't have a notion of first and last names. If you have a surname it's interpreted by the government as your family having a tradition of adding the family name to the end (or beginning) of your name. Similarly in India you can have surnames, clan names, caste names, patronymics, or mononyms. Trying to divide a name up into its parts is a fool's errand: Much easier to simply ask, what is your full name and what is your preferred name.