Your first name is your
personal, given or Christian name. It is the name chosen for a child, usually
by the child's parents. It is also called forename. Your middle name is your
name which comes between your first name and last name. Most persons don't have
middle names; they only have their first names and last names. Your last name
is your family name or surname. Maiden name is the previous name of a married
woman before she took the name of her husband.
It is not enough bearing
your name. It is also important you know how to arrange it when filling out
a form, especially a form that does not provide columns for first name, middle
name and last name but just name. Some persons have been denied scholarships,
jobs, visas, and in most cases, had their certificates reprinted because their
middle names were mistaken for their surnames, and vice versa. Those with just two names usually do
not have this problem as compared to those with more than two names. With that
said, let's look at the following full name and two ways the
individual names can be arranged:
First name: Tammy
Middle name: Donald
Last name/Surname: Reuben
First order: Tammy Donald
Reuben
Second order: Reuben, Tammy Donald
The first order is
straightforward and very common. In this order, you write your first
name, followed by your middle name and last name/surname.
Unlike the first order,
the second order is mostly used for citations although we can still write our
names in this order. And this is why it deserves more attention. When
writing your name in this order, your last name/surname comes first, and you
must use a comma to separate it from the others. Then the first name follows; followed the middle name (as illustrated above).
Always ensure that your
name is spelt correctly and arranged in the right order. A misspelt
name, by law and logic, is not you.
