[K0nserv]

1. There is no order, just use whatever the user entered. In general don't get smart with this data just treat it as a single blob of text.

2. Sort by the whole thing

3. No you can't guarantee identifying family members any more than with a first name last name system. If you need that it should be an additional part of the system. Presumably for the 90% of people who does have a typical first name, last name combo you can still identify family members in the same way.

4. Just introduce free text search for this field if you need to find people.

[thr0waway1239]

I realized that I am in agreement on point number 1 - don't get smart with this data, in which case the other points are not very relevant.

But suppose you are working at a place where people are keen on getting 'smart with the data', your replies do increase the entropy if only to the extent that 'we have this idiot programmer who thinks he is too smart to use first and last names as we have always done and is breaking all our reporting systems and is causing hell for our customer service agents'.

:-)

[K0nserv]

Yeah if you are intent as a business on getting smart with the data it's much easier for everyone to just get smart upfront and ask the user for the data you want. This is not very inclusive though and has a clear anglo american bias. One might argue that this is a manifestation of the lack of diversity in the industry as whole. I think the list is aimed more at changing the perception and believes about names so that systems designed from scratch change rather than aiming to change existing systems that have a clear first name/last name convention established already