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Archiver > GEN-DE > 2000-02 > 0951671128


From: Carsten Laekamp< >
Subject: Re: 'Surnames' not 'family names'
Date: 27 Feb 2000 17:05:28 GMT


Le Sat, 26 Feb 2000 12:14:49 GMT, Patrick Wallace écrivit:

>So English-based terminology can be misleading.

No, in this cas, the terminology isn't misleading. The English word
"surname" itself doesn't imply, to the contrary of other languages'
equivalents, anything about "family", "house" or "the father's name".

The problem is more that many people think everyone does as they do.

>I used to
>work in student admissions in a very cosmopolitan university, so we
>had tograpple with these problems when designing application forms. We
>decided to settle on 'family name' rather than 'surname' with the
>explanation that this was what our alphabetical filing order would be
>based on; but we had to give up when we got back a form from someone
>with a name like Charles B. Clutterbuck III who told us his family
>name was 'Chuck'...........

Hmmm... if people in a University cannot use their dictionary... too
bad you cannot flunk admission :)

Anyway, he probably thought his surname was "III" ;)


Cheers,

--
Carsten Läkamp

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