Names That Break Computers (bbc.com)

Reader Thelasko writes: The BBC has a story about people with names that break computer databases. "When Jennifer Null tries to buy a plane ticket, she gets an error message on most websites. The site will say she has left the surname field blank and ask her to try again." Thelasko compares it to the XKCD comic about Bobby Tables, though it's a real problem that's also been experienced by a Hawaiian woman named Janice Keihanaikukauakahihulihe'ekahaunaele, whose last name exceeds the 36-character limit on state ID cards. And in 2010, programmer John Graham-Cumming complained about web sites (including Yahoo) which refused to accept hyphenated last names. Programmer Patrick McKenzie pointed the BBC to a 2011 W3C post highlighting the key issues with names, along with his own list of common mistaken assumptions. "They don't necessarily test for the edge cases," McKenzie says, noting that even when filing his own income taxes in Japan, his last name exceeds the number of characters allowed.

Comments

Hyphens in last names?

[jader3rd]

Just pick one already.

Teh

[MichaelSmith]

An asian co-worker of mine who's family name is Teh has found that his name is almost impossible to type in tools like microsoft word, which auto correct Teh to The.

Re:And then there's filters...

[blindseer]

I heard a story from a college friend of mine about someone in his family, his dad I think, getting in some trouble while drinking with some Army buddies. So these three friends go out and have a few too many and are picked up by the local police for public intoxication or something similar. The cop asked for their names. They replied in turn, Dicks, Cox, and Bahl (pronounced like "ball"). The cop thought they were trying to be funny. They were hauled off to the station and were only released after the First Sergeant showed up to verify their names.