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After a name with no comma, are initials the family name or the given name's initials? (Armitage JO vs Lakshmi R S) #1254
Description
Two conventions write the same shape and mean opposite things:
| Input | wanted | today |
|---|---|---|
Armitage JO (a bibliographic byline) |
family Armitage, given initials J O |
family JO |
Lakshmi R S (South Indian, where the initials stand for the father's or village name) |
given Lakshmi, family R S |
middle R, family S |
Both are a name word followed by bare initials with no comma. Nothing in the text tells them apart, so by the design philosophy (position plus small word sets, never detecting language) this is an irreducible ambiguity. A fix for one breaks the other, so the two can't be fixed separately.
The shape question: is this an opt-in reading, a Policy switch or a pack setting? If so, are there one switch or two (bibliographic initials-last, and initials as the family)? And what does the default keep?
Bordering (order questions near the same shape): #1247 (a Sinhala house name), #1181 (an English name before a Hong Kong Chinese name).
Activity
Armitage JOread family 'Armitage'? A surname followed by initials, with no comma, reads the initials as the family name #1137Lakshmi R Sgives middle 'R', family 'S') #1163