Names of persons are used to distinguish individuals. In today’s digitized world, the spelling of names matters, since computers compare name strings character by character, unless sophisticated name matching is used. In compliance, very often Arabic names are mentioned. A thorough look at the naming problem, however, has already started here.

In Switzerland, the system of names changed when new articles of the civil code came into effect on January 1, 2013. With a marriage or a partnership, double-barreled names such as Claudia Meier-Müller can no longer registered in the civil registry Infostar. However, such names can still be used in passports. In this case, we have a difference between the official registered name and the name in the passport.

The order of the names may differ. In China, Japan, Korea, and Hungary the order of names is the family name followed by the given name(s).

Icelandic names are more of a description than a family name in the western sense. The name is followed by the suffix ‑sson for a male and ‑sdóttir for a female. Telephone directories in Iceland are sorted by given names.