fname

Fname is a conventional placeholder name used in computing and example code. It does not refer to a single predefined concept; its meaning varies by context. In many programming tutorials and sample data, fname represents either a person’s first name or a file name, depending on the scenario.

As a first-name field, fname commonly appears in forms and data models to collect a user’s given name. It is often paired with lname or surname. In applications that handle internationalized user input, fname should accommodate a wide range of scripts and character sets and respect locale-specific naming conventions.

As a file-name concept, fname denotes the name of a file without necessarily including the extension. In file paths and programming tasks, functions or methods may extract or manipulate the fname part, such as determining the base name from a path. In code samples, fname is used as a generic variable name for a filename, e.g., fname = 'invoice'.

Naming and best practices: Because fname is ambiguous, many developers prefer explicit identifiers such as firstName for user data or fileName or baseName for file-related values. Consistent naming reduces confusion across codebases and data schemas.

Security and privacy: Treating fname as a user-provided value means it can reveal personal information; validation, encoding, and proper storage are advisable as with other personally identifiable information fields.