Splitting names and the importance of the KeyName

Splitting a Name

Names have different parts."First Name" and "Last Name" are two ways of calling these parts. Other ways are "Christian Name" and Family Name" while some countries have the concept of a "Middle Name". DDEX also allows splitting names into parts. However, as these name parts have different names themselves – and different meanings in different cultures, a more generic approach is being used.

Core name parts

The core name parts are

Name Element	Cardinality	Definition
`FullName`	1	The complete Name of the Party, in its normal form of presentation (e.g. John H. Smith, Acme Music Inc, The Beatles).
`NamesBeforeKeyName`	0-1	The Name(s) preceding the KeyName in the FullName (and that is placed after it in a FullNameIndexed). Examples: 'George' in 'George Michael'; 'John Fitzgerald' in 'John Fitzgerald Kennedy'. Not all PartyNames have a NamesBeforeKeyName (e.g. Madonna, EMI Music Inc).
`KeyName`	0-1	The Part of a Name of the Party normally used to index an entry in an alphabetical list, such as 'Smith' (in John Smith) or 'Garcia Marquez' or 'Madonna' or 'Francis de Sales' (in Saint Francis de Sales). For persons, this normally corresponds to the 'family name' or names, which in Western name forms usually comes as a surname at the end of a FullName, and in Asian name forms often at the beginning of a FullName. KeyName The provision of a `KeyName` is not essential as recipients of sales/usage reports use the full name for matching purposes only. However, when provided, the key name field should only contain the key part of a name.
`NamesAfterKeyName`	0-1	The Name(s) following the KeyName. Example:'Ibrahim' (in Anwar Ibrahim). This is common, e.g., in many Asian personal name forms where a FullName begins with the KeyName, which is followed by other names.

Out of these, only the FullName is mandatory.

Auxiliary name parts

DDEX also allows communicating auxiliary name parts. These are all optional:

Name Element	Cardinality	Definition
FullNameAsciiTranscribed	0-1	The FullName transcribed using 7-bit ASCII code.
FullNameIndexed	0-1	The complete Name of the Party in the form in which it normally appears in an alphabetic index, with the KeyName first (e.g. Smith, John H.; Beatles, The)
AbbreviatedName	0-1	Short version of the ddexC:PartyName (e.g. for use on devices with a small display).

Examples

<PartyName>
	<FullName>Bob Geldof, KBE</FullName>
	<FullNameIndexed>Geldof, Bob</FullNameIndexed>
	<NamesBeforeKeyName>Bob</NamesBeforeKeyName>
	<KeyName>Geldorf</KeyName>
	<NamesAfterKeyName>KBE</NamesAfterKeyName>
</PartyName>

While only the FullName element is mandatory, this composite allows a rich way to communicate artist names. While the use on individuals, bands and companies is comparatively simple (even if, most of the time, only thje FullName is provided), the situation is more complex for collaborations (not shown in the examples are FullNameAsciiTranscribed and AbbreviatedName).

This composite can be used to richly communicate "Quincy Jones & Friends":

<PartyName>
	<FullName>Quincy Jones &amp; Friends</FullName>
	<FullNameIndexed>Jones, Quincy &amp; Friends</FullNameIndexed>
	<NamesBeforeKeyName>Quincy</NamesBeforeKeyName>
	<KeyName>Jones</KeyName>
	<NamesAfterKeyName>&amp; Friends</NamesAfterKeyName>
</PartyName>

Naturally, this block does not include any information on who these friends are – for that, the ResourceContributor composite has to be used.

A Horse with more Names

It is always possible to give multiple names – maybe with different character and language coding – to a single party.