From: bap@shrdlu.com   
      
   On 2026-01-18, Lawrence D’Oliveiro  wrote:   
   > On Sat, 17 Jan 2026 19:45:42 -0500, Someone Else wrote:   
   >   
   >> How do you reasonably sort people's names if you don't know whether   
   >> the surname precedes or follows the given name?   
   >   
   > I like the French answer to this question: capitalize the family name   
   > (don’t call it “surname”), so you can spot it wherever it occurs:   
   >   
   >     Peter SELLERS   
   >     LUGOSI Bela   
   >     Marty FELDMAN   
   >     SAKAMOTO Ryuichi   
   >     CHOW Yun Fat   
   >     Michelle YEOH Choo Kheng   
      
   That is doable but is a separate issue to collation sequences. To use it you   
   need to specify which is the family name somehow. At data-entry time seems   
   logical. This is probably one of the few situations where AI could be   
   trusted to get it right most of the time.   
      
   It would also be a mistake for a French developer to store the text in   
   upper-case on the assumption that it is the obvious "natural" form.   
      
   Going back to "van Gelder" should it be changed to "Van Gelder" if that is   
   the local standard even if the individual doesn't use that form?  This   
   raises the question again whether it would be good-practice to print the   
   data in two places in reports?   
      
   --   
   Bernard Peek   
   bap@shrdlu.com   
   Wigan   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)