i202 Fall 2010 School of Information, UC Berkeley

Patrick McKenzie has identified 40 incorrect assumptions that programmers (and non-programmers) tend to make about names (of people, that is). Some of the assumptions are common "obvious" facepalms like #21:  "People’s names are globally unique" (how many Michael Davises or Ali Mohammeds are out there, do you suppose?) or #7: "People’s names do not change" (oh hi, newlyweds!). Others are less obvious, like #31: "I can safely assume that this dictionary of bad words contains no people’s names in it" (poor Susie Yoshitaka). And there's a couple I can't come up with any counterexamples for off the top of my head, like #40: "People have names."

The post is a nice illustration of how designers of information systems, even creative, well-meaning ones, inevitably bias their designs in significant, real-world-affecting ways. If a system can't even get your NAME right, is it likely to properly handle everything else?

Have you ever had trouble with getting an automated system to handle your name correctly? (I expect that many international students, students of Irish ancestry, and students with double-barreled surnames would have lots to say about this. :) )