Multiple family names

jesusag
Hello to the Zotero community,

I'm finishing my work and handling at the moment about 200-300 references.

I'm writing in Spanish so, some of the authors are from Spain, other ones from Latinoamerica, english speaking also, etc.

I have some latino authors in my database with their complete family name. It usually include two words, the first father's last name and the mother's one. I haven't ambiguity troubles with my authors so I want to render in the inline and full references only the first family name. (I'm not talking about dropping particles or suffixes)

eg.
Family: "Benjumea Rua" / Given: Adriana / ... / 2010
Family: "de la Chica Caicedo" / Given: Juan / ... / 2009
should appear as
Inline: (Benjumea, 2010) / Long ref: BENJUMEA, A. (2010): ... etc.
Inline: (De la Chica, 2009 / Long ref: DE LA CHICA, J. (2010): ... etc.

I haven't seen the way to do this simple thing though I've reviewed the CSL Reference and the forum. I'm capable of edit my style but I ignore if this thing is covered by the CSL language. It's typical the forum conversation about dropping parts and ordering but I couldn't find my topic.

There's a simple way to accomplish this?

Thanks!
  • adamsmith
    there's no way to do this in citation styles, no. I don't think there's a way to implement it with any reasonable effort and without creating too much complexity either. I'd suggest simply leaving the second(ary) last names out in your database (or deleting them, respectively).
  • monamitony
    It would be nice to have a way to do it in further versions of Zotero or CSL specifications. I don't know much about programming, but it seems not that difficult to me.

    It would be a command like 'use only one family name' unless a need for disambiguation where command says 'use second family name'.

    English speakers have already something like that, because many styles initialize the given names unless there's ambiguation. In Spanish, it's more frequent to disambiguate using the second (mother) family name than the second (middle) given name.

    Hope my suggestion will be heard, would be a big improvement for Spanish speaking users.
  • fbennett
    I'm afraid that, for the present at least, the answer is the same. The name parts and disambiguation logic for Spanish (and Portuguese?) names are beyond the current capabilities of CSL.

    While we won't foreclose the possibility of implementing this type of disambiguation at some point in the (possibly distant) future, it would indeed be a significant challenge, and it's not currently a priority.
  • DWL-SDCA
    As an indexer, I object to the idea of omitting parts of names from a database. I know this because I have received many requests from authors to have their works consolidated to one name -- the full name. I've never received a request to consolidate by dropping part of a name. Journal metadata sometimes includes one last name and sometimes the full name. In SafetyLit we try to store full names.

    Even if this would require some special data entry when adding names to items in Zotero, surely the goal should be complete, consistent names. With truncated names, a writer will have a serious problem when journal guidelines require full names.

    CSL allows name particles and suffixes (Jr. III) to be entered in the first name field by entering a comma. Could a similar process be added, in this case, by using some other separator such as a semicolon, perhaps in the lastname field?

    My apologies if I am oversimplifying the programming or bureaucratic effort required.
  • fbennett
    edited August 10, 2014
    I agree entirely, complete names are important. The barrier isn't so much bureaucratic as technical. I think for this we would need to add a new attribute, like disambiguate-add-family-name, since the logic of the progression differs from the two existing options. That will require a supporting internal value and related code running throughout the processor codebase. It's not insurmountable, but it would take time to implement and test, and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up.
  • RintzeRintze
    In Spanish, it's more frequent to disambiguate using the second (mother) family name than the second (middle) given name.
    Is this always the case? I'm wondering whether people ever go by their second family name, and disambiguate with the first, instead of vice versa?

    E.g., taking the example from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs: "[I]f a man named Eduardo Fernández Garrido marries a woman named María Dolores Martínez Ruiz and have a child named José ... their child would most usually be known as José Fernández Martínez."

    As I currently understand it, you wish to have the ability to disambiguate the shortened name "José Fernández" by adding "Martínez": "José Fernández Martínez". Do you know of cases where a person would go by the shortened name "José Martínez" when their full name is also "José Fernández Martínez"?
  • aurimas
    @monamitony, your examples above indicate that "Adriana Benjumea Rua" would be listed in the bibliography as "Benjumea, A." (or whatever format the style requires), but if there is ambiguity, then the author should be listed as "Benjumea Rua, A."? I'm no expert on this, but I haven't seen the entries in bibliography vary (apart from adding a year suffix and expanding the author list) based on the need for disambiguation. Adding initials or full first names is done in text, but I wasn't aware of this being done in the bibliography. Wouldn't that be odd?

    Also, how would the author be listed in their own article in the list of authors? Would they include the full last name?
  • aurimas
    edited August 15, 2014
    I guess I'll give an example myself.
    Francisco E. Becerra Chavez published http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v7/n2/full/nphoton.2012.316.html
    http://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.79.033814
    http://www.opticsinfobase.org/josab/abstract.cfm?uri=josab-26-7-1315
    as F.E. Becerra though NIST has him listed with his full name for the first article http://www.nist.gov/manuscript-publication-search.cfm?pub_id=912063

    I would guess that it makes the most sense to use the form of the name that the author him/herself used in the publication. If F.E. Becerra Chavez publishes under F.E. Becerra, then it's pretty pointless to disambiguate with his (unpublished) secondary last name, as that gives the reader no additional information by which to locate a source. It would be equivalent to just adding a year suffix. If he were to publish under F.E. Becerra Chavez, then it would be odd to list him as F.E. Becerra in the bibliography and could be potentially confusing to the reader trying to locate the source. At least that would seem to be the case for journal articles, since the authors are pretty careful about publishing under a specific name.

    Not sure about books. E.g. "The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor" by Gabriel García Márquez would be cited as "García Márquez" or "García"? Wiki says that he should be referred to as "García", but their reference list says "García Márquez" (but it's a wiki, so...).

    Would it be possible to get any published examples of either omitting the secondary last name or including it solely for disambiguation? (by omitting, I mean that the author publishes under the full name, but is only cited by the primary last name)
Sign In or Register to comment.