Category talk:Names
Suggestion: Edit Names category page to indicate that when a name appears as "Ma X" or "Sw Y", these are not always complete names, sometimes "prefixes" such as Anand, Deva, Dhyan, Prem, etc are just not known. -- doofus-9 18:20, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
Can you give example: i did not got your proposal.--DhyanAntar 04:13, 29 May 2019 (UTC)
Sw Julian is how we list Julian but it is not his complete name. We don't know if he was Sw Anand Julian, Sw Veet Julian, Sw Prabodh Julian or what, so the proposal is for some words to explain that sometimes when it's only Ma or Sw + a single word name that there may be something missing. -- doofus-9 04:51, 29 May 2019 (UTC)
Yeah, this is the issue and we should somehow indicate on missing or possibly missing word of a name.
But Sw ? Julian is ugly.--DhyanAntar 06:02, 29 May 2019 (UTC)
Yes, ugly, so all i'm talking about is a note on this Category page, a GENERAL note that SOMETIMES we don't know. I would put this note up myself but cannot edit this protected page. -- doofus-9 07:24, 29 May 2019 (UTC)
I made something. Please correct/add. We may want to say something about the format of the names of Indian sannyasins, like the use of "Bharti" ? --Sugit (talk) 08:29, 29 May 2019 (UTC)
I see i have started something that is getting more complicated than i had foreseen. What you put up is a good start but there are issues. Okay. Here we are.
"Middle name" looks like an innocent, neutral term for this, well, middle name, but when it is contrasted with "main name", it doesn't work for those who prefer to use it as their main name, eg the large number of Indian sannyasins whose last name is Bharti, plus more than a few other examples.
I prefer to think of these as family names and individual names, and "Ma" and "Swami" more as titles, however non-serious. But i sometimes also use terminology similar in effect to yours, thinking of those "middle names" as "prefixes". This terminology has the same problems. Maybe we can avoid all that for now.
How about something like this?:
"It will be noticed that the alphabetical listings are mostly according to people's last names, except about 10-15%, who are listed by their middle names. This reflects complicated patterns of usage which might eventually be explained in detail somewhere, but this note concerns the significant number of listees for whom there is only a single name after "Sw" or "Ma".
"In many of these cases, the names are complete, but in many others, they may not be complete, and there may be a missing middle name. Anyone who knows of a missing middle name is invited to write our directory editor, Rudra."
Or to keep it even simpler, leave out the part before "This note concerns". -- doofus-9 04:06, 30 May 2019 (UTC)
I made small changes, please check.
By the way, in English, how does one call the part of the name that is used in informal contacts? In Dutch (& German) we say roepnaam: call-name. "First name" would not work here. --Sugit (talk) 09:55, 30 May 2019 (UTC)
