Legal Definition and Related Resources of Name

The discriminative appellation of an individual, a firm, corporation or thing. A word or words used to distinguish a person or thing or class from others. See W.B. Mfg. Co. v Rubenstein, 236 Mass. 215,128 N.E. 21.

One or more words habitually used to distinguish a particular individual. A letter of the alphabet does not constitute a name. 232 111. 228. The name of a person consists, among Anglo-Saxon peoples, of one family name, surname, or patronymic, by which all members of the immediate family are known, and one Christian, baptismal, or surname bestowed upon one by his parents, to distinguish him from others of the same family. 5 Eobt. 599. Only one Christian name is recognized in law, and for all legal purposes the use of a middle name is surplusage. 31 Minn. 385; 78 Iowa, 519; 39 Barb. (N. Y.) 479. For all practical and legal purposes, the name by which a person is known and called in the community in which he lives and is best known, is his name. 149 Iowa 672, 31 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1112. The word junior or jr forms no part of a person’s name, but is merely descriptive. 182 111. 424; 192 111. 184.

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Name in Historical Law

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This definition of Name is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

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Legal Usage of Name in English

An European Commission document offers the following explanation about the misused of Name :In European Union texts, particularly in administrative forms, the word ‘name’ is often used to refer exclusively to a person’s surname, so we are asked to supply someone’s ‘name and first name’ (usually in that order, sometimes with the word ‘name’ knowingly written in capital letters). More unusually, but very confusingly, it is sometimes used to refer to the person’s first name to the exclusion of his/her surname (so we have ‘name and surname’). In English, a person’s ‘name’ is his/her whole name, so my ‘name’ is Jeremy Stephen Gardner, where Jeremy is my ‘first name’, ‘forename’, ‘given name’ or ‘Christian name’, Stephen is my ‘middle name’ and Gardner is my ‘last name’, ‘surname’ or ‘family name’. The universal convention in the English-speaking world is that the ‘first name’ should come first and the ‘last name’ last (hence their names) and that it is possible to tell which is which by the order in which they are placed; the common European Union practice of putting the last name first and indicating that it is actually the surname by placing it in capital letters is not widespread in English and may not be understood.

Examples

‘CardHolderName is the name and first name(s) of the holder of the Control Card125.’ ‘Title, Name and surname, Position in the applicant organisation126.’ Alternative As languages and cultures differ on this point, documents and forms in English should unambiguously specify which name is which, e.g. by using the neutral terms ‘given name’ and ‘family name’. In running text (as opposed to forms or tables), the normal order should be retained.

Resources

Further Reading

• David Mellinkoff, “Mellinkoff’s Dictionary of American Legal Usage”, West Publishing Company, 1992
• Bryan A. Garner, “A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage”, West Publishing Company, 1995