Author Names: knowing the family name

DWL-SDCA

This forum has had several interesting threads about the new capabilities concerning author name entries -- particularly that on dropping and non-dropping particles. I now understand the basics of how to enter the names to get the formatting I want.

While I kind-of "know" how to enter most North American and Northern and Western European names, I don't always know what formatting I want for other authors.

I know how to enter compound names to get a particular result but I don't always know the result I want.

How do I know which particles are dropping and which are not for a particular name?

This problem is further complicated for me for naming conventions where the family name comes first.

The actual journal page often isn't very helpful. Article databases often differ on what should be in the family and given name fields for a given author who has a complex name.

I don't even seem to be able to conduct a proper Google search to find a discussion of these issues. Please point me to book, document, or website that will help me better understand these issues.

Am I alone with these concerns?

fbennett

Our expert on names formatting is Rintze Zelle, who I'm sure will be happy to respond to your query. It certainly can be confusing -- I don't have much of a sense of it myself. It is even further complicated by the fact that the preferences of the person holding the name come into play, so although you can make an educated guess, you can't really conclude much from the name alone. Without wanting to generate extra work for Rintze, a guidance page on the entry of names would certainly be a welcome addition to the zotero.org wiki space.

Rintze

In designing the CSL support for name particles we had many of the same issues. Information about how name particles work was obtained in bits and scraps from the internet, and from our own (local) knowledge. Article databases are often not curated very carefully, so those can't really be trusted, and journal's instructions to authors typically don't discuss these intricate issues.

If there is a need for documentation, we'll probably have to write our own.

edit: I assume you read the parts in the CSL 1.0 specification concerning name particles? http://citationstyles.org/downloads/specification.html#name
If you have specific questions, feel free to post them here. fbennett is the expert on Asian names, and I know quite a bit about Dutch ones :)

DWL-SDCA

I have read as much as I could find but would like more. It is bad enough that some journals include only author initials. The same author's full name can be represented differently depending upon the publishing journal. I am particularly frustrated by Asian names. The same journal article at times has authors of the same nationality one with last name first another with given name first. I only know this because I am colleagues with both authors.

While I appreciate your offer (and your offers by proxy) I don't want to impose. I have continuing needs -- I am one of the database curators. We have tried contacting living authors if there is any uncertainty about how to represent their names. WE receive replies only about 1/3 of the time.

I dream of an author registry.

Gracile

While I kind-of "know" how to enter most North American and Northern and Western European names, I don't always know what formatting I want for other authors.

I know how to enter compound names to get a particular result but I don't always know the result I want.

How do I know which particles are dropping and which are not for a particular name?

This link could be useful: Universal bibliographic control and international MARC programme, Names of persons : national usages for entry in catalogues, München, KG Saur, 1996.

This problem is further complicated for me for naming conventions where the family name comes first.

Oh, yes....

DWL-SDCA

This seems to be a great resource for helping me to understand the issues. It is more than I expected. Thank you.