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Liam Ó Murchú reads Ó as a middle initial: add the Irish particles Ó, Ní, Ua (and Malay binti) #604
Description
Rationale
Irish surnames are written with a separate patronymic particle: Ó/Ua ("descendant of"), Mac ("son of"), Ní/Nic ("daughter of"). mac is already in the particle vocabulary, but ó, ní and ua aren't. So the particle is read as a middle name and the surname loses its first word:
Liam Ó Murchú → given Liam, middle Ó, family Murchú
Sinéad Ní Mhurchú → given Sinéad, middle Ní, family Mhurchú
Malay has the same shape with bin/binti ("son of"/"daughter of"). bin is a particle; binti isn't, so Ina binti Navalamar → middle binti, family Navalamar, while Hasim bin Hassan → family bin Hassan.
Found while reviewing NameAPI's published demo examples and its culture notes on Irish and Malay names.
Statement
ó,níanduajoinPARTICLESas never-given particles. None is a standalone given name, so a name they open is surname-only, as withde Mesnil(rules.md#P1).bintijoins as an ambiguous particle, likebin, becauseBintiis also a given name (Swahili, "daughter").Ó.written with a period stays an initial. The Irish particle is never written with a period, butÓ.is a real initial (Spanish Óscar, Icelandic Ólafur/Óskar/Ólöf). Today the particle match normalizes edge periods away, soóin the vocabulary would also claimÓ.. The fix needs a particle that matches only when written bare. That's new: no one-letter particle has existed before, so nothing has needed it.
Examples (measured; "proposed" uses a temporary Lexicon.add)
| input | now | proposed |
|---|---|---|
Liam Ó Murchú |
middle Ó, family Murchú |
family Ó Murchú |
Sinéad Ní Mhurchú |
middle Ní, family Mhurchú |
family Ní Mhurchú |
Seán Ua Buachalla |
middle Ua, family Buachalla |
family Ua Buachalla |
SEÁN Ó MURCHÚ |
middle Ó |
family Ó MURCHÚ |
Ó Murchú |
given Ó, family Murchú |
family Ó Murchú (P1) |
Ó Murchú Liam (FAMILY_FIRST) |
— | given Liam, family Ó Murchú |
Ó Murchú, Liam |
family Ó Murchú |
unchanged (the comma already settles it) |
Ina binti Navalamar |
middle binti |
family binti Navalamar |
Siti Nurhaliza binti Tarudin |
middle Nurhaliza binti |
middle Nurhaliza, family binti Tarudin |
Binti Jua |
given Binti, family Jua |
unchanged, reports particle-or-given |
Juan Ó. Pérez |
middle Ó. |
must stay middle Ó.. Naive vocabulary gives family Ó. Pérez |
J. Ó. Pérez |
middle Ó. |
must stay middle Ó.. Naive vocabulary gives family Ó. Pérez |
The last two rows are the boundary the bare-only matching has to hold. They make good case-table rows, contrasted with Juan Ó Pérez.
Accepted consequences
- Bare
Juan Ó Pérez(an Óscar initial written without its period) becomes familyÓ Pérez. Accented initials normally carry the period, so this should be rare. Óas a whole given name stops being possible in leading position. It isn't one in any culture I found.
Open questions
- Should
uabe never-given or ambiguous? I found no given-name use, but checked less thoroughly than foró/ní. - Should
binte(the Singapore spelling) come along withbinti? I'd leave out the abbreviationsbt/bte: two-letter words, and unreviewed. - Interaction with
Mc DonaldandSte Marieread the particle as the given name #360, which questions the never-given set's membership: these three would be its first additions since that issue was filed.
Exclusions
nic: it's also an abbreviation of Nicolas/Nicole and a given name in its own right (Nic Cage). It belongs in an opt-in Irish pack, not the defaults.- Unaccented
O:Liam O Murchúis unchanged (middleO). BareOis a common initial written without a period, and anglicized Irish names writeO'glued to the name anyway (O'Neilalready parses).
Same-PR obligations
rules.md P amendment for the bare-only boundary; a decisions.md#vocabulary-collisions application entry for the four words; case-table rows for each example, including the Ó. contrast.
Activity
Simplify the #604 tests
Add the Irish particles Ó, Ní, Ua and the Malay binti/binte (derek73#604
Fix what the second review of derek73#604 found
Merge origin/master (derek73#604) into the derek73#601/derek73#602 br…