Name storage in database

I'm dealing with a system that only stores a single "Name" field in an OLTP
(web site) database. Now my immediate reaction was to split it into: Prefix,
First, Middle, Last & Suffix. However, the UI could easilly get a little
unfriendly. So I popped into Amazon and found they were using a single field
in the UI too. Other sites I checked only used first and last names.
Someone must have done some research on this and made a paper available.
Thoughts and/or links?On Wed, 5 Dec 2007 12:37:24 -0800, Jay wrote:

>I'm dealing with a system that only stores a single "Name" field in an OLTP
>(web site) database. Now my immediate reaction was to split it into: Prefix
,
>First, Middle, Last & Suffix. However, the UI could easilly get a little
>unfriendly. So I popped into Amazon and found they were using a single fiel
d
>in the UI too. Other sites I checked only used first and last names.
>Someone must have done some research on this and made a paper available.
>Thoughts and/or links?
>
Hi Jay,
It all depends on what you want to use the data for.
If you just intend to print it on address labels for your business
correspondence, than you can just as well leave it in a single column.
If you intend to do something wiith a component of a name (e.g. sorting
by last name, or personalizing a letter by having it start with "Dear
Mr. Jones" or "Hi Barry", or analysing whether your customers with a
specific title spend more than those without), then you're better off
splitting the parts you eed seperate right from the off.
Hugo Kornelis, SQL Server MVP
My SQL Server blog: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/hugo_kornelis