personalnaming

Personal naming is the practice of assigning a personal name to a person, used to identify individuals within a social, legal, and cultural context. Names typically include a given name and a family name, but structures vary widely across cultures. Additional elements may include middle names, patronymics or matronymics, suffixes, and honorifics, all of which can carry social status, lineage, or religious meaning.

Naming systems reflect linguistic, religious, and historical factors. In many Western traditions, a given name is followed by a family name; in Iceland, names are usually derived from the father's or mother's name with a patronymic or matronymic suffix. In Spanish-speaking regions, individuals commonly carry two family names from both parents. East Asian naming orders typically place the family name first. Some cultures also use multiple given names or religiously significant names.

Naming is often accompanied by rites, such as birth announcements or naming ceremonies, and by formal registration with civil authorities. Legal name regimes vary: many jurisdictions require the name to be unique, not defamatory, and not offensive, and may govern changes after events like marriage, adoption, gender transition, or personal choice.

Contemporary trends include the increasing use of gender-neutral or hyphenated names, cross-cultural naming practices, and the growing importance of online identities where username-like elements can resemble given names. Globalization has produced hybrid naming practices and renewed interest in traditional naming practices as cultural heritage.