# Can somebody have 4 last names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958 "2024-03-17T22:54:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958/41 "2024-03-24T22:11:18Z")
Nope, from the south of India. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958/42 "2024-03-25T17:52:38Z")
One apocryphal story has it that a man whose name was B.J.Jones joined the army and had to put his full name in a form that would not accept just one letter for the name. So he wrote “B (only)” and “J (only)” Jones, and was thereafter called on all official documents by the Army Bonly Nonly Jones. And we must not forget Raymond Luxury Yacht (pronounced Throatworbler Mangrove). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958/43 "2024-03-25T18:12:53Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > This reminds me of the classic article: [“Falsehoods programmers believe about names”.](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/) As somebody who has broken computer systems with my name (not as bad as **Robert’); DROP TABLE Students;–** however) I appreciate this. > [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > I am now imagining an unpublished Borges story about a person whose name was so long it could not be completely spoken before the heat-death of the universe… [Those of us who were kids in the late 80s/early 90s probably remember this book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikki_Tikki_Tembo) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958/44 "2024-03-26T02:27:02Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Nope, from the south of India. TIL: > **[Indian name | Tamil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_name#Tamil)** > > Tamil names usually follow this pattern: Initial (Village name) – Initial (Father's name) – First name – Surname (Example: M.G. Ramachandran, where the M stands for Marudhur, and G stands for Gopalan, the father's name. Another example is R. Karthik, where R stands for Ravichandran, the father's name). There is a widespread usage of a patronym (use of the father's given name as the last name). This means that the first name of one generation becomes the last name of the next. In many cases, the f... > [@](#): > > Due to the influence of the [Dravidian movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_movement), from the 1930s, most Tamils abandoned their surnames, both in India and nations like Singapore, due to the arising consciousness that these surnames were synonymous with their [caste](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India) identity, leading to social stigma. Surnames in Tamil were caste-based and modernist south Indians in the early 20th Century abandoned using surnames rather than perpetuating caste identity. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958/45 "2024-03-26T04:27:18Z")
Interesting! That fits well with my friend’s political leanings. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958/46 "2024-03-27T23:17:28Z")
Supposedly the Selective Service System is/was unable to handle men with hyphenated surnames so John Smith-Doe would become John Smithdoe. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958/47 "2024-04-05T04:57:02Z")
Just stopped by to mention Ferdinand Zvonimir Maria Balthus Keith Michael Otto Antal Bahnam Leonhard von Habsburg-Lothringen, hereditary archduke of Austria, known mostly as “Ferdie”. No one wanted the job of sewing his name into his shorts when he went off to summer camp. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-have-4-last-names/998958.md?page=2)