id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	priority	milestone	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc
6148	Internationalization of personal names	aradams	anonymous	"(Please excuse if this ticket lacks technical details. I am not a developer, merely an interested user.)

WordPress currently allows users to register using the fields ""first name"" and ""last name."" These terms, and the limitation of only two fields, do not allow for the differences in naming conventions worldwide. The assumptions made by WP's design not only affect its use in its base English-language version, but also hampers localization efforts.

Richard Ishida [http://rishida.net/blog/?p=100] says: 

""People who create web forms, databases, or ontologies in English-speaking countries are often unaware how different people’s names can be in other countries. They build their forms or databases in a way that assumes too much on the part of foreign users.""

And: 

""If you do still feel you need to ask for constituent parts of a name separately, try to avoid using the labels ‘first name’ and ‘last name’, since these can be confusing for people who normally write their family name followed by given names.""

Matthew Sachs also writes on this subject here: [http://zevils.com/2007/12/28/internationalization-of-names/]

One possible approach to internationalization of personal names might be something like this:

-- Allow for multiple name fields in user registration[[BR]]

-- Remove culturally-specific labels like ""first name"" and ""last name""[[BR]]

-- Use the existing ""display name publicly as"" dropdown list to allow the user to specify the proper phrasing of his/her name[[BR]]

-- Allow user name sorting flexibility. Currently author lists are sorted by first name, alphabetically, which is incorrect for English and many European names. Adding a ""sort name by"" dropdown list would allow for more flexible sorting of names within such applications as wp_list_authors.
"	enhancement	closed	normal		I18N		normal	wontfix	personal names, internationalization, cultural bias