Personal names

A personal name or full name the set of names by which an individual is known and that can be recited as a word-group, with the understanding that, taken together, they all relate to that one individual. In many cultures, the term is synonymous with the birth and legal names of the individual, seen below. The academic study of personal names is called anthroponymy.

In Western culture, nearly all individuals possess at least one given name (also known as a first name, personal name, forename, or Christian name), together with a surname (also known as a last name, or family name)—respectively, the Thomas and Jefferson in Thomas Jefferson—the latter to indicate that the individual belongs to a family, a tribe, or a clan. Where there are two or more given names, typically only one (in English-speaking cultures usually the first) is used in normal speech.

Some cultures, including Western, also add (or once added) patronymics or matronymics, for instance, as a middle name as with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (whose father's given name was Ilya), or as a last name as with Björk Guðmundsdóttir (whose father was named Guðmund) or Heiðar Helguson (whose mother was named Helga). Similar concepts are present in Eastern cultures.

However, in less urbanized areas of the world, many people are known by a single name, and so are said to be mononymous. Still other cultures lack the concept of specific, fixed names designating people, either individually or collectively. Certain isolated tribes, such as the Machiguenga of the Amazon, do not use personal names.

A person's full name usually identifies that person for legal and administrative purposes, although it may not be the name by which the person is commonly known; some people use only a portion of their full name, or are known by titles, nicknames, pseudonyms or other formal or informal designations.

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