Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
William Shakespeare's words may ring true to his work, but if you "misspell your client's name, it's sure to embarrass or damage your business relationship.
One mistakes that's rampatly figured during data entry process is the wrong treatment of name. Wrong name in your database can malign your relationship with your customer and even lose business credibility.
To order to understand the probable flaws while entering name, it's essential to understand the structure of name.
Name has five basic parts:
- Prefix - Mr, Mrs, Prof, Dr, etc.
- First name
- Middle name
- Last name
- Suffix - Jr, MD, etc.
Rule # 1
Do not use periods or commas after suffixes, first initials or middle initials. Never use "and" in between Prefixes. Use ampersand (&), with a space on either side.
Rule # 2
For initials in first name, do no use periods in between the initials. For instance, if it is "J C", use space for in between the two initials. If the first name is J Charles, enter it as "J Charles". Dual names such as "Mary & Charles", are to be entered with an ampersand in between.
Rule # 3
Do not enter middle name in the initial form. Use initials for middle name only when it is given along with the first name, i.e, " B J Charles."
Rule # 4
Enter suffixes after the last name separated by a single space. Do not user a period or a comma after the suffix
Single space is the most effective way to segment between each element in a name. In case of name like D'Christo, use hypen to separate it.
