Re: [docbook] On family/given/first/last names

[Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven <asmodai@in-nomine.org>]

-On [20071214 19:24], Geraint North (geraint@transitive.com) wrote:
>So in your example, I (as a reader) would want consistency between van 
>Beethoven and Van Zandt - I don't care how they like their name printed, I 
>just want to be able to find the "Van someone" that I vaguely remember in 
>the list.  Indeed, if we were treating the references list like an Index 
>(another structure optimised for human-search), each name would appear 
>twice.

That's what you want, however, in the Netherlands the van part of the family
name carries no meaning. Someone called Peter van Zandt would be sorted under
the Z, not the V. And the same applies for some other countries. Take for
an even nicer example a Dutch woman who married this Peter van Zandt: Ineke
ten Bravoure-van Zandt. These so-called 'tussenvoegsels have no meaning when
it comes to sorting. So if you would sort Peter van Zandt under the V, you'd
boggle the minds of the Dutch readers at least. So they, as readers, would
want that consistency intact. ;)

-- 
Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven <asmodai(-at-)in-nomine.org> / asmodai
イェルーン ラウフロック ヴァン デル ウェルヴェン
http://www.in-nomine.org/ | http://www.rangaku.org/
In every stone sleeps a crystal...