Why we don't use Galileo's last name (2009) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why we don't use Galileo's last name (2009)

#171

Post by egeozcan » Mon, Jul 29, 2019, 7:40 AM UTC

yxhuvud wrote: post #102

egeozcan wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Atatürk (the founder of the Turkish Republic) made surnames mandatory as a reform to be compatible with Europe (he was very pro-Europe) and this was in 1934. Everyone got to pick their own surnames. Luckily people hesitated to pick Mohammed because the word for last name in Turkish translates to "name of lineage" and that'd be a big claim (also I've heard that it wasn't allowed not to put a target on non-muslims' bac…

Did he have any children? That is, do you have any Atatürks running around today?

He didn't. There were some people who claimed otherwise but without any piece of evidence whatsoever.

Re: Why we don't use Galileo's last name (2009)

#172

Post by redis_mlc » Mon, Jul 29, 2019, 7:52 AM UTC

lisper wrote: post #147

Having a single name is quite common nowadays, particularly among celebrities: Slash. Bono. Dido. Cher. Sting. Prince. I really wonder what it says in their passports. And what about The Rock? Is his first name "The" and his last name "Rock"?

I used to do Christmas card mailings for celebrities.

There would be an Excel with their original name in the first column, and their stage name in the second column.

Interesting to read.

Re: Why we don't use Galileo's last name (2009)

#173

Post by jaclaz » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 10:15 AM UTC

ithkuil wrote: post #165

jaclaz wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>fwiw, they didn't solve the issue during that session Sure, that's normal, they could not. It is anyway (even if caused by a different issue) a case of "homocody". These can only be solved by the Agenzia delle Entrate or - in some cases - they cannot even be solved by them and you need to resort to other means. And yes, being on the wrong side of bureaucracy is never a good place to be in, the Italian one (but more…

In this case the central registry couldn't solve the problem, because it was not their fault. Both persons had two distinct personal codes, issued officially by the "agenzia delle entrate" office. It's when the motor vehicle driving license of person A has been registered, that a transcription error happened. Whether that instance could have been avoided with a more careful check or not misses the point. The point is…

Ah, well, then it was not a "homocody" issue, only a "bad transcription" or "human error".

It is not surprising that having a unique citizens code doesn't prevent the confusion of identities when the transcription/inscription is not accurate.

But with all due respect, it is only a truism.

Which however opens the usual dicotomy between frequency of the problems and procedures designed to fix them, it is likely that an extremely rare problem has no "easy fix" exactly because it is rare and maybe it was the first time it happened to the DMV employees involved and there was not an already actually "coded" resolution.

On the other hand, when a problem happens often enough, there will be a ready made, "common" solution to it and even if the high frequency of the problem is actually a sign of an original bad implementation, the public will not perceive it as an issue.

Re: Why we don't use Galileo's last name (2009)

#174

Post by piaste » Mon, Aug 05, 2019, 5:21 PM UTC

jaclaz wrote: post #145

piaste wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sweden's personnummer system is much more elegant - your code is your date of birth followed by a 4-digit unique identifier. Everybody knows their personnummer by heart, while in Italy most people carry their health card around with the 16-character codice fiscale.

>Everybody knows their personnummer by heart, while in Italy most people carry their health card around with the 16-character codice fiscale. Cannot say about Sweden, but most people I know in Italy also know by heart their Codice Fiscale (whether they carry with them nonetheless the card is another thing).

I know mine by heart and I still get mildly surprised reactions every now and then when I give it to an office worker.