Message-Id: <m0soEGZ-0000ZKC@xiron.pc.helsinki.fi>
Date:         Thu, 31 Aug 1995 14:21:33 EDT
Reply-To:     jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
Sender:       Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From:         jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
Subject:      Re: Names
To:           Veijo Vilva <veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI>
Content-Length: 1488
Lines: 35

Don Wiggins:
> I have been wondering about the use of personal names in lojban and how they
> carry significant cultural baggage.
>
> Are surnames and first names recognised in lojban?

Not as such. {la stefis.}, {la stefis. graf.} and {la graf.} are all valid
Lojban names, and there is no distinction within Lojban to say that one or
another is a first name or a surname or both.

> Are there titles (such as Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc.) for use with surnames?  Or
 with
> first names (such as don <given name> in Spanish)?

No, but you can add any gismu to a name, so you could get something similar,
for example {la mikce zei .uatson.}

> How does one identify the surname and given names when, for instance, in
> English the surname is at the end, in Chinese it is at the start, Spanish uses
> double surnames, Muslim uses given name and patronymic.

You can always add meaningful words as a part (or all) of a name. For example
you could say {la simpson. zei lanzu zei bart.} , which is something like
"Simpson-family Bart".

> What is the significance of calling a person by their given name rather than
> their surname?

I don't think there is any significance at all prescribed for names, other
than that they refer to someone (or something). Usually people on this list
use given names when referring to each other in Lojban, which is what they
do in English as well, but if someone chooses to lojbanize their surname
instead and use that, that's what others will probably use.

Jorge