A personal name is a proper name identifying an individual person, and today usually comprises a given name bestowed at birth or at a young age plus a surname. It is nearly universal for a human to have a name; except in rare cases, for example feral children growing up in isolation, or infants orphaned by natural disaster for whom no written record survives. The Convention on the Rights of the Child specifies that a child has the right from birth to a name. Certain isolated tribes, such as the Machiguenga of the Amazon, also lack personal names.
Naming conventions are strongly influenced by culture, with some cultures being more flexible on naming than others. However, for all cultures where historical records are available, the naming rules are known to change over time.
Read more about Personal Name: Structure, Feudal Names, Naming Convention, Name Order, Nonhuman Personal Names
Famous quotes containing the word personal:
“In the twentieth century one of the most personal relationships to have developed is that of the person and the state.... It’s become a fact of life that governments have become very intimate with people, most always to their detriment.”
—E.L. (Edgar Lawrence)