[JimDabell]

> In Singapore, we use a single field to input the first name and last name.

I have a completely “ordinary” name from a western perspective – first (given), middle, last (family). I live in Singapore, which has a few different popular naming conventions from a few different cultures. I’ve received documents with my name in every single variation possible. I‘ve been Mr First Name, Mr Middle Name, Mr Last Name, and so on. Often I can’t even determine if they have my name correct in their records – it could be recorded correctly but used incorrectly, or it could be recorded incorrectly and used correctly. Sometimes I suspect it’s recorded incorrectly but also used incorrectly in a different way.

Normally it’s not a problem, but like you say, airline tickets can cause issues. I think I’ve been demoted from “check in online” to “check in at a counter because we need to check your paperwork” a bunch of times because my passport doesn’t match my name on my ticket. Often it’s not even the name order – the airline will only sell my ticket with a first name and last name field (meaning I have to drop my middle name, which is on my passport) or they ask for all three and then concatenate first and middle with no space and truncate the last few letters.

Everything would be so much easier if I could just enter my name.

[Ekaros]

It seems that with things like ticket there should be explicit "as in passport" instructions. Not that people will follow those...

[pmontra]

Some people have more than one passport (multiple citizenship) and could use a different one to enter different countries because of visas. The name could be partly different on those passports. But yes, they probably know the passport they'll use since the time they buy the ticket.

[Eavolution]

I as an example have 2 passports, and my name is first middle1 middle2 last.

One of my passports has my name like that, the other is first middle1 last, so even between passports its not the same, as one of them drops one of my middle names.

[saalweachter]

I know people hate the idea of all three of world government, government IDs, and reducing people to numbers, but things would be a lot easier if we could just write on forms "I'm person number 15389247652" and let name matching be relegated to historical documents.

[pmontra]

As you hinted, we would need a global authority recognized and trusted by everyone at least for name registration and resolution.

About government IDs and reducing people to numbers, most of the threads here are already giving them for granted. We are a number once we're in a database.