Re: [csswg-drafts] [css-fonts] Rename `<*-family-name>` to `<*-font-family-name>`? (#13263)

Most properties and productions that end in `-name` expect only author-defined idents (i.e. custom, dashed or string) or third-party names, see #13389 for an overview. For fonts, it is a mixed of 

1. `<family-name>` font family names exposed by the operating system to the browser and further from there to the stylesheet based on (localized) names stored within the font files by their vendors, 
2. `<family-name>` custom font resource names specified by an author in `@font-face` rules, 
3. `<generic-family>` generic font family aliases, to be resolved by browser and OS to some appropriate font, as 
   1. `<generic-complete> | <generic-incomplete>` predefined keywords or 
   2. `<generic-script-specific>` predefined keywords within the `generic()` function and 
4. `<system-family-name>`: font aliases as keywords for the `font` shorthand.

For legacy reasons, the `font-family` property and the `font-family` descriptor within `@font-face` are using the same production `<family-name>` (which is proposed to be renamed to `<font-family-name>` above). This was a mistake in hindsight, because the property needs to support 1. and 2., whereas the descriptor only needs to support 2.
I am not sure whether it would make sense to introduce an artificial distinction for `font-family` now while at it: 

- Make the the value of the descriptor a new production like `<font-face-name> = <string> | <custom-ident>+` (i.e. no *effective* change due to web compatibility).
- Make the value of the property `[ <font-family-name> | <generic-font> ]#` with `<font-family-name> = <font-name> | <font-face-name>` and `<font-name> = <string> | <custom-ident>+`, also without effective change.
  - Rename `<system-family-name>` to `<system-font>` (as it is a predefined keyword and not a custom identifier and also used within `font` only, not in `font-family`).
  - Rename `<generic-family>` to `<generic-font>`, or keep as is; perhaps adapt `<generic-script-specific>`, `<generic-complete>` and `<generic-incomplete>` accordingly.

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Received on Sunday, 25 January 2026 12:10:44 UTC