Forum:Human middle names
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The use of middle names, if only their middle initial if known, is a common sight when looking at article titles for Human characters. This issue has been beaten to death it seems like over the past couple of years, yet no consensus seems to ever come of it, and one with a simple outcome on either end of the spectrum.
Personally, I see the emphasis on these middle names to be as overzealous as the naming of the various parts of the MJOLNIR armor systems. When I meet someone for the first time, I do not introduce myself as "Natalie E. Mikkelborg" or pretentiously as "Natalie Elizabeth Mikkelborg," and I suspect that many of you don't as well. The use of middle names in the modern era, at least in the United States, seems to be that of a formality, only used to honor the namesake of an older family member or friend. Presenting your middle name when signing an essay or adding your name on Facebook is just not commonplace. In the context of the Haloverse, I guarantee you that nobody throughout Earth and her colonies speaks of the legend of "Catherine Elizabeth Halsey," "Preston Jeremiah Cole," "Hieronymus Michael Stanforth," or "James Gregory Cutter;" they simply refer to them by their given and family names.
That's why our naming scheme should be a case-for-case basis as it does in real life. You can look on Wikipedia and see a wide variety of naming schemes from first+last, first+middle initial+last, first+middle name+last, and many other variations of that. James Cutter wasn't introduced to us with "Gregory," nor was Johnson with "Junior," or Parangosky with "Orlenda." Mostly all canon drops the existence of middle initials and names following the first introduction anyhoo. Thomas Lasky, confirmed to be "Thomas J. Lasky" in the MJOLNIR communications device, refers to himself simply as "Tom/Thomas" and as do the production staff; Taylor Miles has only been referred to with the "H" initial in online and encyclopedic content. We've adopted their full names for our own reasons, one that I've never been able to find out. Much of this likely stems from military needs to give "proper form" names for identification (see Preston Cole biography in Evolutions), and naturally as overbearing encyclopedic curators, we latch onto every scrap of detail we can find. But simply put, here's how I think we should name characters in the future:
- First introduction — First + Last > Permanent article title.
- EXAMPLE — Jacob Keyes
- First introduction — First + Middle Initial + Last > First + Last in article title, with middle initial in intro and infobox.
- EXAMPLE — Thomas J. Lasky to Thomas Lasky
- If first and middle initial are used commonly (in similar fashion to John F. Kennedy), then article title and the content within will use the available full name.
- EXAMPLE — Preston J. Cole
- First and last, in addition to middle initial, will be used in personnel lists.
- Redirect to expanded name including middle initial.
- First introduction — First + Full Middle Name + Last > First + Last in article title, with middle name in intro and infobox.
- EXAMPLE — Catherine Elizabeth Halsey to Catherine Halsey
- If first and middle names are used consistently throughout story, then article title and the content within will use full name.
- Full name will be used in personnel lists.
- Redirects to expanded full name including middle name and one including middle initial.
- Special case — Middle name is used commonly in lieu of the first name > Middle + Last, with full first + middle + last in intro and infobox.
- EXAMPLE — Michael Stanforth from Hieronymus Michael Stanforth
- Full name will be used in personnel lists.
- Redirect to expanded full name.
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed reading my proposal and I hope you can voice your opinions promptly before Halo 4, The Thursday War, Silentium and Forward Unto Dawn are all released, opening the floodgates on pesky Human meatbags! :)
Comments
Sure. Tuckerscreator(stalk) 19:05, 28 September 2012 (EDT)
So will the articles be renamed to a shortened name, or have a shortened name redirect to the article with the full name? Other than that, I am supportive of this.--Spartacus, Halopedia Administrator Talk 16:58, 29 September 2012 (EDT)
- The articles, if they fall into the permanent categories will be renamed to the shortened names. If no redirects exist for the full canon name, then they will be created. Grizzlei ♥ ツ
- Alright. I'm fine with that.--Spartacus, Halopedia Administrator Talk 17:30, 30 September 2012 (EDT)
I'm fine with this. Using full names in titles never made that much sense to me; the information can be conveyed just as well in the introductory paragraph and the infobox. As a side note, since you brought up our titling of MJOLNIR articles, I'd also prefer a simpler format for them - while the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor article would be kept unchanged, the titling of the myriad of variants could be changed to "MJOLNIR/variant" as opposed to our current "MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/variant".--Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 23:41, 30 September 2012 (EDT)
You like this.— subtank 23:50, 30 September 2012 (EDT)- Since I see no objections for this, does anyone mind if I go ahead and move the corresponding articles? Also, I'd hate to go off topic, but if we were to rename the armor articles we should simply use "MJOLNIR Commando," "MJOLNIR Warrior," "MJOLNIR Fallschirmjäger," etc. without the forward slash for simplicity's sake. Grizzlei ♥ ツ
- I would prefer with forward slash than without, as Jugus suggested, as they look more organised (even more so when we have a variant made for one particular Mark# armor). Plus, forward slash would also adds a link to the main article, MJOLNIR, automatically.— subtank 13:21, 1 October 2012 (EDT)