A Simple example

<name>
  <family value="Everyman" />
  <given value="Adam" />
  <given value="A." />
</name>

Composite names

<name>
  <family value="Contrata" />
  <given value="Mary Jane" />
</name>

These cases can be quite ambiguous - is "Mary Jane" one name, or two? Different systems, and data enterers may treat this differently, and the person themselves might not know. Parts are allowed to contain spaces, but systems should consider how to treat these cases. Composite names separated by "-" should be treated as a single name part.

A common pattern: a person is called by a name other than that expected from their official name (first given name in most cultures).

<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="Chalmers" />
  <given value="Peter" />
  <given value="James" />
</name>
<name>
  <use value="usual" />
  <given value="Jim" />
</name>

This same pattern is often encountered with immigrants, who retain their real name for official use, but adopt a localized name for everyday use:

<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="Sczypinski" />
  <given value="Piotr" />
  <given value="Andre" />
</name>
<name>
  <use value="usual" />
  <family value="Skipper" />
  <given value="Jim" />
</name>

Some people may also have a nickname that needs to be recorded:

<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="Brown" />
  <given value="Steven" />
</name>
<name>
  <use value="nickname" />
  <given value="Junior" />
</name>

Note that there is some ambiguity in real life as to whether a non-official name is the patient's usual name, or whether it's their nickname. In principle, nick names are used occasionally and informally, whereas the usual name is used consistently, and in formal contexts. However, there is no formal criteria for the differentiating these usages, and even within a culture, people may vary in their cases.

Karen van Hentenryck is of Dutch origin, and the "van" is a voorvoegsel.

<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="van Hentenryck" >
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-own-prefix" >
	   <valueString value="van" />
    </extension>
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-own-name">
      <valueString value="Hentenryck" />
    </extension>
  </family>
  <given value="Karen" />
</name>

See the Extensibility Example for more information about the use of extensions.

Complex example from Germany: Dr.phil. Regina Johanna Maria von Hochheim-Weilenfels, NCFSA. This example shows extensive use of multiple given names, prefixes, suffixes, for academic degrees, nobility titles, and professional designations.

<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="von Hochheim-Weilenfels">
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-own-prefix" >
      <valueString value="von" />
    </extension>
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-own-name">
      <valueString value="Hochheim-Weilenfels" />
    </extension>    
  </family>
  <given value="Regina" />
  <given value="Johanna" />
  <given value="Maria" />
  <prefix value="Dr. phil.">
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/iso21090-EN-qualifier" >
      <valueCode value="AC" />
    </extension>
  </prefix>
  <suffix value="NCFSA" />
</name>
<name>
  <use value="maiden" />
  <family value="Hochheim" />
</name>

This example makes use of the ISO 21090 extensions to carry the rarely used ISO 21090 qualifier attribute "AC".

Japanese example in the three forms: ideographic (Kanji), syllabic (Hiragana) and alphabetic (Romaji).

<name>
  <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/iso21090-EN-representation">
      <valueCode value="IDE" />
  </extension>
  <family value="木村" />
  <given value="通男" />
  </name>
<name>
  <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/iso21090-EN-representation">
      <valueCode value="SYL" />
  </extension>
 <family value="きむら" />
 <given value="みちお" />
</name>
<name>
  <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/iso21090-EN-representation">
      <valueCode value="ABC" />
  </extension>
  <family value="KIMURA" />
  <given value="MICHIO" />
</name>

The three forms may be differentiated by the character subset each contains, but some systems require the differentiation to be made manually, which can be done using the ED representation extension.

Russian example in the two forms: Cyrillic and Latin:

<name>
  <family value="ЕМЕЛИН" />
  <given value="ИВАН" />
  <given value="ВЛАДИМИРОВИЧ" />
</name>
<name>
  <family value="EMELIN" />
  <given value="IVAN" />
  <given value="VLADIMIROVICH" />
</name>

In Russian usage, these names are known as the domestic and foreign names respectively. The two forms are differentiated by the character subset each contains.

Scandinavian example: Erikson is the family name. Jan Erik are the given names, and Östlund the family name of the mother, which is taken as a Mellannamn.

<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="Erikson" />
  <given value="Jan" />
  <given value="Erik" />
  <given value="Östlund">
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinitioniso-20190#name-qualifier" >
      <valueCoding>
         <code value="MID" />
         <system value="http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-EntityNamePartQualifier2" />
      </valueCoding>
    </extension>
  </given>
</name>

This example makes use of the ISO 21090 extension to carry the culture specific ISO 21090 qualifier attribute "MID" for the Mellannamn.

Then Jan Erikson has a daughter, Karin, with his wife Margrete Hansen. The first communication of the new born name is "Margrete Jente" (Margrete's Girl) and the mother's family name, not the given name (Karin). The father's Family name is not used at all. This is a known temporary name assigned directly after the birth of the child.

<name>
  <use value="temp" />
  <!-- use could be OR+OLD, depends how record keeping is done -->
  <family value="Hansen" />
  <given value="Margrete Jente" />
</name>

The baby's name is subsequently changed to the fathers' family name, and to use the mother's name as mellomnamn.

<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="Erikson" />
  <given value="Karin" />
  <given value="Hansen">
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinitioniso-20190#name-qualifier" >
      <valueCoding>
         <code value="MID" />
         <system value="http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-EntityNamePartQualifier2" />
      </valueCoding>
    </extension>
  </given>
</name>

Later, Karin gets married to Per Berg, and decides to adopt Berg as her family name, and also decides to use Erikson as the mellom navn. (Note: Karin could have chosen to use another mellom navn, e.g. the family name of her mother, her father or other family names as specified by naming laws of the country in question).

<name>
  <use value="old" />
  <family value="Erikson" />
  <given value="Karin" />
  <given value="Hansen">
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinitioniso-20190#name-qualifier" >
      <valueCoding>
        <code value="MID" />
        <system value="http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-EntityNamePartQualifier2" />
      </valueCoding>
    </extension>
  </given>
</name>
<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="Berg" />
  <given value="Karin" />
  <given value="Erikson">
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinitioniso-20190#name-qualifier" >
      <valueCoding>
        <code value="MID" />
        <system value="http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-EntityNamePartQualifier2" />
      </valueCoding>
    </extension>
  </given>
</name>
<name>
  <use value="usual" />
  <family value="Berg" />
  <given value="Karin" />
</name>

A patronymic is "The part of a name that links to the genealogy":

<name>
  <text value="Björk Guðmundsdóttir"/>
  <family value="Guðmundsdóttir"/>
  <given value="Björk"/>
</name>

A patronymic with a "son/daughter of" appellation:

<name>
  <text value="Isa bin Osman"/>
  <family value="bin Osman"/>
  <given value="Isa"/>
</name>

A Chinese name with a generational name:

<name>
  <text value="毛泽东"/> <!-- left to right -->
  <family value="毛"/>
  <given value="泽东"/>
</name>
<name>
  <text value="Mao Ze Dong"/> <!-- left to right -->
  <family value="Mao"/>
  <given value="Ze Dong"/>
</name>

Note that many systems in China do not store family and given names separately, and just use text.

Additional Western name (see also example above):

<name>
  <use value="official" />
  <family value="Yao" />
  <given value="Ming" />
</name>
<name>
  <use value="usual" />
  <given value="Fred" />
</name>

Composite Family name:

<name>
  <family value="Carreño Quiñones" >
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-fathers">
        <valueString value="Carreño" />
    </extension>
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-mothers">
        <valueString value="Quiñones" />
    </extension>
  </family>
  <given value="María-Jose" />
</name>

Note that it is optional whether to break down the family name to mother's and father's parts, and not always of value, as in this Brazilian Example:

<name>
  <family value="Santos Tavares Melo Silva" />
  <given value="José" />
  <given value="Eduardo" />
</name>

Note that this naming pattern can become quite extreme ("Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga"). A more practical example is

<name>
  <family value="Costa Teixeira" >
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-fathers">
        <valueString value="Costa" />
    </extension>
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-mothers">
        <valueString value="Teixeira" />
    </extension>
  </family>
  <given value="Manuel" />
</name>

After marriage, this may change to

<name>
  <family value="Costa Teixeira Sanches" >
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-fathers">
        <valueString value="Costa" />
    </extension>
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-mothers">
        <valueString value="Teixeira" />
    </extension>
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/humanname-partners-name">
        <valueString value="Sanches" />
    </extension>
  </family>
  <given value="Manuel" />
</name>

Russian Examples (using Cyrillic):

<name>
  <family value="Ельцин" />
  <given value="Борис" />
  <given value="Николаевич" />
</name>

<name>
  <family value="Ельцина" />
  <given value="Наина" />
  <given value="Иосифовна" />
</name>

Example with Initial:

<name>
  <family value="Public" />
  <given value="John" />
  <given value="Q." />
</name>

Other Examples:

<name>
  <text value="Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan"/>
  <family value="Velikkakathu" />
  <given value="Sankaran" />
  <given value="Achuthanandan" />
</name>
<name>
  <text value="Kogaddu Birappa Timappa Nair"/>
  <family value="Nair" />
  <given value="Birappa" />
  <given value="Timappa" />
  <prefix value="Kogaddu" />
</name>
<name>
  <text value="Aditya Pratap Singh Chauhan"/>
  <family value="Singh" />
  <given value="Aditya" />
  <given value="Pratap" />
  <suffix value="Chauhan" />
</name>
<name>
  <text value="Madurai Mani Iyer"/>
  <given value="Mani" />
  <prefix value="Madurai" />
  <suffix value="Iyer" />
</name>
<name>
  <text value="Abu Karim Muhammad al-Jamil ibn Nidal ibn Abdulaziz al-Filistini"/>
  <family value="ibn Nidal ibn Abdulaziz" />
  <given value="Muhammad" />
  <given value="al-Jamil" />
  <prefix value="Abu Karim" />
  <suffix value="al-Filistini" />
</name>

Todo: need to discuss this with Indian / Arabic implementers. Note that collecting and storing the text element makes the primary purpose of the structured parts for index/searching, and fidelity of the name parts is not critical.