Useful English: Names

Recently I had a discussion about "First names" and "Last names" and it inspired this post to explain.

In the UK as well as some other countries we write our first name first (sometimes middle names) and our last name/ surname last which is pretty straightforward.

The order goes:
First name/ Given name = Same meaning
Middle name
Last name/ Second name/ Surname  = Same meaning

e.g. Thomas Smith or Amy Rebecca Wood

Thomas = First name (The name friends call you by)
Smith = Last name (Your family name)

This person does not have a middle name so it is simply Thomas Smith.

Amy = First name
Rebecca = Middle name
Wood = Last name

When we have a middle name we are not often called "Amy Rebecca" normally it would just be "Amy" this is why our friends do not always know our middle names... strange right?

However, some people have a double barrel name with a hyphen (-)

e.g. Lily-Ann Grace

in this example:

Lily-Ann = First name
Grace = Last name

Now this person could also have a middle name

e.g. Lily-Ann Tamara Grace

Lily-Ann = First name
Tamara = Middle name
Grace = Last name

soooo confusing right? but you would call this friend "Lily-Ann" not just Lily unless they prefer it that way :)

A lot of western people shorten their name also which can be a little confusing too

some common shortened names are:

Katherine = Katie
Thomas = Tom
Samantha/ Samuel = Sam
Fredrick = Fred
Timothy = Tim
Jonathon = Jon
Isabella = Izzy
Elizabeth = Liz

These are just some examples but not everybody prefers their name to be shorter this depends on the individual. My birth name is Katherine Rogers I personally prefer people to call me "Katie" and so not everybody knows that my birth name is Katherine as I do not introduce myself as Katherine :)

Similarly, some people have the birth name Katie, not all people called Katie have the birth name, Katherine, even more, confusing I guess!

Now if I write my name Rogers, Katherine... Rogers is STILL my second name and Katherine is STILL my first name... these labels: first name, second name etc. do not change depending on order it is written.

In Korea, people put their Last name first and their first name second, for example:

이민호

이 = Family name (Last name)
민호  = First name (Given name/ what friends call you)

but because these are the other way round it can be confusing because if you say
"My first name is Lee" then your international friend will think this is the name you want to be called so "Lee, how is it going?"

However, Lee is the family name in this case so it is called your second name even though it is written first in the Korean order, we refer to it as your second name/ last name.

Your first name is 민호 Minho in this example so if you want people to call you with the name Minho you have to say something like:

"Hello My name is Lee, Minho... Lee is my last name and Minho is my first name"

This way your international friends will know to call you by your first name Minho and will recognise your last name/ second name Lee is, in fact, your family name.

This is very confusing to explain but even though the order is different we still consider a "first name" to be the name you wish to be called by even if in the Korean order it comes last.

This is a very difficult thing to fully understand but I hope I explained it a little more.

London Nuna x