On: A humble guide to database schema design

[tasogare]

Also for international users browsing in English labeling the fields "given name" and "family name" are way more clearer than using first and last names.

[Wildgoose → tasogare]

Exactly what I was thinking - plus a field to state the order they should be displayed in seeing as Asian cultures usually state the Family Name first.

[pezezin → Wildgoose]

Shouldn't that be a localization/translation issue?

My experience living in Japan is that they will write family name first if using Japanese, but given name first if using an European language.

[rumanator → tasogare]

Also, in some cultures like in Spain the legal surname is typically the first family name, which might be the first of two or three family names.

[pezezin → rumanator]

What do you mean "the legal surname"? I'm Spanish and my legal name is my full name with both family names. You can't just ignore one. Also, Spanish people have two family names, but they can be composite, so they may look as three or four family names.

However, most people are usually known by one family name, but which one is used depends on which one is more easily recognizable.

[rumanator → pezezin]

> What do you mean "the legal surname"? I'm Spanish and my legal name is my full name with both family names.

I'm referring to the primer apellido. Even government forms require that people break down their surnames in first surname and all trailing surnames.