> Many were the times, earlier in my career, when I decided to use a 'natural key' as a key in my own database. As far as I recall, I've regretted it every sing

> Many were the times, earlier in my career, when I decided to use a 'natural key' as a key in my own database. As far as I recall, I've regretted it every single time. Correct. Infamously correct Every "natural key" will have some way of fumbling things down the line. Nothing is unique, not even joining your natural key with other deduplication info. Just save yourself the trouble.