CiCi1111

First of all, to all of you suggesting this person CHANGE his/her NAME to suit the American systems....FU!! And, by that I do _not_ mean "first unknown". It is this kind of insensitivity and lack of inclusiveness that stifles the system. Do you tell your black friends to whiten their skin to avoid racism? Tell your female friends to get a sex change to earn equal pay in their job? Tell your gay friends to act straight so as not to be discriminated against? Seriously, the frick, people. A person's name is a strong part of their identify, their culture, their heritage. Just because the American systems are retarded (meant in the truest literal way), doesn't mean everyone else should be. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the USA with mononyms. Florida DMV once told me how many in Florida -- if I recall, it was more than 60,000. Here's the deal: It is a ridiculously SIMPLE problem to solve in a database-driven system. 1.) Don't require both a "first name" and "last name" field. Just as a middle name is not required. Or: 2.) At the very least, allow a hyphen character -- which is a common character of American last names -- to serve as a field spaceholder. In fact, both a hyphen character and an apostrophe are common characters in surnames, so even if only that field were less restrictive to allow it. Names (even given names) often include a space, so that should be allowed, too. In practical terms, it seems universally using a hyphen as placeholder is best, as it avoids all the different systems doing something different. It also isn't mistaken as an actual name to be pronounced. Also, on forms, it is recognized construct to put a hyphen/dash to indicate no answer for a field. So, rather than suggest that a person change who they are for a broken system, how about we all advocate for an inclusive system based on what is legal rather than what is common (also read: white privilege)!! 'Merica...land of the common. As a mononymous person (US native), I will tell the poster what I have encountered as to how US systems handle this, based on today's date [mostly for archival purposes, as the thread is old]: 1. US Social Security Administration: Their data-entry system has a checkbox indicating the person is mononymous. When the data entry person checks this box, the 'first name' field is disabled. Your social security card will print with the single-word name only. However, the back-end database is populated with "UNK" (apparently to mean "unknown") as placeholder. And, as a result, other agencies (such as insurance companies) who pull from this database, will receive the information as it is in the back-end system. The "UNK" (or "unknown") is completely stupid, as the name isn't unknown, it doesn't exist. But, at least they recognize and have designed the system to accommodate the variance. 2. At least one US state Division Of Motor Vehicles likewise had a system with a checkbox for single-name, but in this case it disabled the 'last name' field. So, it would never verify with the social security administration database. #smh 3. Florida DMV uses "NFN" (No First Name) as placeholder for the back-end system. However, with much complaining, they can print the driver's license with only the mononym. Florida auto registration had no problem with the single-word name. 4. My university (if I recall), used "NFN" as do other DMVs that I have encountered. 5. The US Passport Agency had a meltdown. In my case, they just assigned some completely random name to my account, and I had great difficulty even verifying my identity on the phone to try to find out what it was. My passport card did display correctly with the mononym, but the back-end system was totally random. I had to contact my congressman when they were unresponsive to my requests to address the matter. Eventually (a year later!), I got someone on the phone who claimed it was resolved. Not sure if it is or not. 5. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn't care. Those b*st*rds will find you no matter what names you use! 6. The credit bureaus will never get your credit straight, for anything reported in the single-word name. When a business, for example, electronically reports your credit information, the credit bureaus systems look at the name field first, then address, and SSN only way down the list. When they can't match on the name field, their system ignores the report! One reason that people with same names (like fathers and sons, for example) have their credit information cross-populated erroneously all the time. The credit bureaus are horrible! And, they are a monopoly, so good luck with them. 7. Employers, banks, credit card companies, businesses, etc. will all have problems with it. You'll have to insist that they sort it out. They rarely can do this at the data entry point, but the IT team certainly can override the field to leave it null. [Note: American Express never had a problem with it. They said it was because they are an international company and recognize that not all are the same.] TIP: Some businesses can enter your name as a business name as a workaround. That works reasonably well as long as they aren't charging more for their service because of the designation. Ironically, Google -- a giant international player -- has decided that they know best what constitutes a proper name. So, good luck getting even a Google+ account with a single-word name. In fact, it won't even let you enter a name less than a certain number of characters (and it has to be like at least 3 or more, as I recall). So, a big FU to Asians for sure, who often have 2-letter names. 8. E-Verify: Many/most employers now do what is called E-Verify, wherein a search is done of various systems to verify your citizenship (and other?). Employers also do background checks. These will be a nightmare too. You'll have to stay on top of them with these. Bottom line: If you want a convenient life, do what you want. Have your name legally changed to be common and like every one else to fit in. Split your name to fill 2 fields. Whatever you do, keep a cheat-sheet for yourself showing how each entity enters it in their database. Or, better IMO, insist that the company/university/agency accommodate it. If they don't, they are discriminating along the lines of ethnic or religious discrimination. The United States of America has been the so-called melting pot for hundreds of years. It is time that electronic systems reflect that. I will say that they are getting better. At least database designers are. I find that I can much more often enter my single-word name in forms without problem.