# Full Name Key: `identity.person.full_name` Complete person name (first and last names, possibly including middle names). Locale-specific due to name order and formatting conventions (e.g., Western "FirstName LastName" vs East Asian "LastName FirstName"). Page: Samples: `John Smith`, `María García`, `Jacques Dubois`, `田中太郎`, `محمد علي`, `Smith, Mr. John`, `Dr. Jane Wilson`, `BROWN, ALICE` ## Background ### Origin The vCard Format Specification, RFC 6350, was published in August 2011.[[1]](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6350) Its FN property holds the formatted text of the name of the object the vCard represents.[[1]](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6350) RFC 6350 requires at least one FN property in every vCard.[[1]](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6350) A separate, optional N property breaks the name into components: family names, given names, additional names, honorific prefixes and honorific suffixes.[[1]](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6350) That split is a useful picture of this type: a full name is the FN side, one display string, while first and last name columns are an attempt at the N side. (Meridian's view) ### Use The W3C's guide to personal names notes that in Japan, Korea and Hungary names are ordered family name followed by given name.[[2]](https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names) The same guide says Spanish-speaking people commonly have two family names.[[2]](https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names) In Icelandic names, the guide explains, the second part indicates the father's or sometimes the mother's name.[[2]](https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names) The W3C guide advises that, where possible, it is simpler to use the full name as the user provides it.[[2]](https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names) Patrick McKenzie's essay Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names lists the belief that people's names fit within a certain defined amount of space as a falsehood.[[3]](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/) The same essay lists the belief that people's names are case insensitive as a falsehood.[[3]](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/) Keep the original string untouched, treat any split into parts as a lossy derived column, and never normalise case on the stored value. (Meridian's view) ### Where you'll meet it The US Federal Election Commission's contributions by individuals file carries a NAME column, Contributor/Lender/Transfer Name, as a single field.[[4]](https://www.fec.gov/campaign-finance-data/contributions-individuals-file-description/) The FEC's file description gives that column the data type VARCHAR2 (200) and the example Abigail Adams.[[4]](https://www.fec.gov/campaign-finance-data/contributions-individuals-file-description/) ## Sources 1. [vCard Format Specification](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6350) — standard 2. [Personal names around the world](https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names) — secondary source 3. [Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/) — secondary source 4. [Contributions by individuals file description \| FEC](https://www.fec.gov/campaign-finance-data/contributions-individuals-file-description/) — dataset