RE: "lastname" and "firstname" are not culturally neutral

> The term "first name" also raises another problem, with
> hyphenated names.
> With Lars-Peter Andersen, he would probably expect us to know that his
> "first" name is Lars-Peter, while for Lars Peter Andersen the
> first name is Lars.

Since you bring up a "nordic" example...

You're partially right. But nobody here talks about a
"first" name, but we use "förnamn" ("before-names" in a
literal translation) and "efternamn" ("after-names" in
a literal translation).  But not about "mellannamn" (middle
name).  Many people here have several "förnamn" (2-3), and
some have several "efternamn" (though not common, and I will
not go into the legalities around this, which complicates it
further).  Among the "förnamn" one chooses (or the parents
choose...) one to be "tilltalsnamn" ("spoken-to name").  It
does not have to be the first one of the "förnamn" (which
are given an order), but all the "förnamn" that are NOT the
"tilltalsnamn" are usually not written out (or asked for),
though they are in some situations (similar to "middle names",
but they needn't be "middle").  The "efternamn" is a family
name these days, but some were once patronymic.


		/kent k