Names

Does it annoy you sometimes when you filled up a form and it requires you to fill in your "First Name" and "Last Name"?

And occasionally your "Middle Name" too?

This applies only for the Westerners because their name comprises of those three elements.

For example, Sarah Jessica Parker.

(Disclaimer : I used her name but it doesn't mean I'm her big fan. Just that she is one of the very few celebrities who uses their full name.)

Sarah is her first name, Jessica is her middle name, and Parker is her last name or family name.

While this applies for Westerners,

this "First Name", "Middle Name", and "Last Name" thing doesn't really apply to the majority of Malaysians.

For the Chinese, their last name is not their family name.

For example, Chow Lei Sei.

Sei is not his family name. His family name is Chow.

Meanwhile, for the Malays and Indians,

their father's name at the back of their names.

eg, Ali bin Abu. Abu is Ali's father.

Maybe that is close enough to be considered as a last name??

I don't know.

The thing is, why can't they make things simpler by just putting a column for "Name"?

So how do we fill up the forms?

I don't think it literally meant First, Middle and Last Name although one of my friends said that.

For example, Chow is first name, Lei is middle name, and Sei is last name.

All these while, what I did was putting my surname as my last name.

I don't know if that is right.

If you know better, please clarify.

Thanks. =)