Timeline for Is it possible to be a Belgian civilian without a first name?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 27, 2021 at 9:18 | comment | added | SQB | Life tip based on @ohwilleke's comment: do NOT name your kid "NA" or "NFN". | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 9:16 | comment | added | Daan | Really? In what article of Belgian law is this distiction made? When I talk about a first name, I mean a "voornaam" as defined in Belgian law. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 2:39 | comment | added | user6726 | I suggest rewriting your question, which only says that he doesn't have a first name. You don't say that he has no name at all, which is a pretty important distinction. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 2:36 | comment | added | ohwilleke | When having one name was common, and there was a risk of confusion, various designators were used patronymics/matronymics like Johnson or Marciadaughter, geographic designations (William of Avon or St. Francis of Assisi), or reputational or descriptive indicators (Alexander the Great, Pliny the Younger). British Princes William and Harry each worked out something along these lines (as their male predecessors have done for ages) to better conform to the bureaucratic realities of military life when they served, although they are cursed with too many names and honorifics, rather than too few. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 2:30 | comment | added | ohwilleke | When, for example, a cop stops someone who has no known first name, there is a code that they put into a database (e.g. NFN for "no first name" or NA for "not applicable"). One could do that in an application as well. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 1:41 | comment | added | Daan | I know it is wide spread just like not having a name at all. Your point is correct but had nothing to do with my question. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 1:34 | comment | added | user6726 | Well, "The Artist" did at least have a referential graphic, but that was not his legal name. The point is that single name is wide-spread. Whether you call that a first name or second name is immaterial. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 1:06 | comment | added | Daan | Yes! Some people do not have even have names at all but this has nothing to do with my question. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 1:01 | comment | added | user6726 | Very many people have only 1 name, and get passports (Teller being the most famous). Indonesian presidents Sukarno and Suharto had 1 name. So it's hard to imagine that Belgium is unaware of this practice. | |
| Jan 13, 2018 at 0:11 | history | asked | Daan | CC BY-SA 3.0 |