Forum:Middle names

I wonder whether this recent development in facts articles contains a solution to some, if not all, the problems around patronyms. Example:

{{#if:{{getfact|children-g1}}|

Children
}}

{{set general info .....
 * given name = Catherine
 * middle names =
 * surname = Mills
 * sex = F
 * father = William Mills (?-?)
 * mother = Sarah Cameron (?-?)
 * short name = Catherine Mills
 * full name =
 * titles =
 * siblings = Catherine Ada Mills (1870-1904);
 * alternative names =
 * image =

How is it used?
Of course, the "middle names" thing will have to work, which it seems not to be doing in the above example (or it would say "Ada"). When the "Ada" gets filled in, where will it be shown except (automatically) in a list of facts and (arising from deliberate entry by a contributor) in the "full name" and possibly the "short name"?

Other names not in the middle
Its definition might want to include family-type names that come after the surname (as in, for example, some Iberian traditions). Otherwise how do we handle them?

Another consideration is that with middle names separated from given names there will be a strong desire to enter someone's normal name as the given name even if it is the second name (as in George Bernard Shaw and J. Edgar Hoover, for example). This could further extend the scope of "middle names" to include the occasional "first name". Otherwise how do we handle them if the "given name" is second?

Rename parameter or add another one?
Result could be a change of nomenclature from "middle names" to "other names". Unless we make true "middle names" distinct from "other names"?

But can we do anything with them? Will any user want to do a search for middle names or any "other" names? Possibly. Will someone searching for "John" find a page that has "Arthur John" as its "middle names"? If not, the names might be better separate, e.g. name-m1, name-m2, etc, or name-o1, name-o2...

— Robin Patterson (Talk) 03:35, 26 July 2009 (UTC)