On Fri, 2004-06-04 at 09:42, Dan Matei wrote:
> He, he !
>
> You can afford such subtleties in English :-)
>
> But - in order not to be Western-centric - what can I do in Romanian ?
> 'Given name' is 'prenume' (like in French 'prenom'). "Pre-" means - as
> expected - "before", "in front of", i.e. (the famous) "first". There is an -
> even worse :-) - [rarely used] synonim: (in free translation) "christian
> name" or (in literal translation) "baptismal name" !
It may be a subtlety of english that allows this to be described,
however the concept of a preferred name taking precidence over a first
name appears in many ways:
My own name is Ian Stuart, however I have a regular nickname within
certain groups. "Jock"
I have a friend called "Victoria". Everyone calls her "Vikkie"
I know someone who is called "Robert", after his father. The name he
responds to is "John" as this is his middle name, and reduces the
confusion when the two of them are together (which is often, they work
together)
So, I have to support the concept of "Fore name", "preferred name" and
"Family name"
--
Ian Stuart, Perl Laghu. EDINA, Edinburgh University.
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