given name

A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a family or clan) who have a common surname. The term ''given name'' refers to a name usually bestowed at or close to the time of birth, usually by the parents of the newborn. A '' Christian name'' is the first name which is given at baptism, in Christian custom.

In informal situations, given names are often used in a familiar and friendly manner. In more formal situations, a person's surname is more commonly used. The idioms 'on a first-name basis' and 'being on first-name terms' refer to the familiarity inherent in addressing someone by their given name.

By contrast, a surname (also known as a family name, last name, or ''gentile'' name) is normally inherited and shared with other members of one's immediate family. Regnal names and religious or monastic names are special given names bestowed upon someone receiving a crown or entering a religious order; such a person then typically becomes known chiefly by that name.

Name order

The order ''given name – family name'', commonly known as the ''Western order'', is used throughout most European countries and in countries that have cultures predominantly influenced by European culture, including North and South America; North, East, Central and West India; Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The order ''family name – given name'', commonly known as the ''Eastern order'', is primarily used in East Asia (for example in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysian Chinese, Singapore, and Vietnam, among others), as well as in Southern and North-Eastern parts of India, and as a standard in Hungary. This order is also used to various degrees and in specific contexts in other European countries, such as Austria and adjacent areas of Germany (that is, Bavaria), and in France, Belgium, Greece and Italy, possibly because of the influence of bureaucracy, which commonly puts the family name before the given name. In China and Korea, part of the given name may be shared among all members of a given generation within a family and extended family or families, in order to differentiate those generations from other generations.

The order ''given name – father's family name – mother's family name'' is commonly used in Spanish-speaking countries to acknowledge the families of both parents. Today the order can also be changed legally in Spain and Uruguay using ''given name – mother's family name – father's family name''.

The order ''given name – mother's family name – father's family name'' is commonly used in Portuguese-speaking countries to acknowledge the families of both parents.

The order ''given name - father's given name - grandfather's given name'' (often referred to as ''triple name'') is the official naming order used in Arabic countries (for example Saudi Arabia, Iraq and UAE).

Compound

In many Western cultures, people often have multiple given names. Most often the first one in sequence is the one that a person goes by, although exceptions are not uncommon, such as in the cases of John Edgar Hoover (J. Edgar) and Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland (Barbara).
The given name might also be used in compound form, as in, for example, John Paul or a hyphenated style like Bengt-Arne. A middle name might be part of compound given name or might be, instead, a maiden name, a patronymic, or a baptismal name. Sometimes, a given name is used as just an initial, especially in combination with the middle initial (such as with H. G. Wells

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