# Is it really remarkable to have people close to you in your phone book with their actual full name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450 "2023-01-19T10:11:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/21 "2023-01-20T03:31:06Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > Does it make any of you, like me, feel old when for at least a fraction of a second your brain interpreted “phone book” in the title as that old-timey thing made of paper and ink? No, the OP seems old for calling it that. I’ve never heard it called anything but **contacts** until now. Anyway, I have a few people in my contacts with only their first names, but they happen to be the only person I text (or much more rarely, call) with that first name. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/22 "2023-01-20T03:55:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@commasense](#): > > > > Everyone in my contact list is listed by full name, and sorted by last name. The only exceptions are people whose last name I don’t know for some reason, e.g., a worker doing a job for me whose last name I didn’t catch. And those are usually listed under the company name. > > That’s me. Me, too. And my phone has a field for “title”, so that’s where “plumber” goes, not in a name field. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/23 "2023-01-20T03:56:29Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > No, the OP seems old for calling it that. I’ve never heard it called anything but **contacts** until now. I’m slightly dyslexic. I just read “phone”. I have a lot of contact info in my phone. ---
**Author:** ![cincinnatus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cincinnatus/32/7990_2.png) [@cincinnatus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cincinnatus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/24 "2023-01-20T11:10:44Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > > [@commasense](#): > > > > > > Everyone in my contact list is listed by full name, and sorted by last name. The only exceptions are people whose last name I don’t know for some reason, e.g., a worker doing a job for me whose last name I didn’t catch. And those are usually listed under the company name. > > > > That’s me. > > Me, too. And my phone has a field for “title”, so that’s where “plumber” goes, not in a name field. Yep, same here. I take it a step further, though. Some service providers get an entry in the notes section, a sort of mini review. “Jackass” is one. Several are “Never call again.” And some are so terrible I will enter several words to remind me of extreme incompetence or of the event that precipitated my rating. Those reviews are for plumbers, electricians, doctors, therapists and other really poor service people. The excellent, by the way, are also reviewed. I need to keep track of both for who to call and who not to call. This started when a plumber I thought I had used before tried to chisel me out of a lot of money in his quote. It turned out he had the same last name of a very honest guy, and I had to make note. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/25 "2023-01-20T12:55:01Z")
I have a few notes, too. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/26 "2023-01-20T13:00:45Z")
Notes. Yeah, notes. For good/bad qualities as vendors but also for social reasons. I deal with a lot of people on a recurring but occasional basis. Like a few hundred. Far more than the feeble social part of my brain can remember. So on meeting such people, I quickly add them as a contact even if it has no phone or contact info and the notes are full of biographical details, what they look like, accent, etc. All so I’m more likely to remember them to begin with and be able to pick up at our next meeting with some clue who the hell they are. ---
**Author:** ![cincinnatus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cincinnatus/32/7990_2.png) [@cincinnatus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cincinnatus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/27 "2023-01-20T15:21:48Z")
I concur. I have a “People I know” database squirreled away with clues. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/28 "2023-01-20T15:52:39Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I am also weird in that I have a picture of each person in their profile, so I can be reminded what they look like. For friends and family it’s easy to find photos to use, but for colleagues it is more of a challenge, so sometimes I use like-looking celebrity photos available from the internet. I know. Weird. I love this! Sometimes a contact will include a picture, and I agree to add it. But I’ve never sought out pictures. I like the idea! (Especially the celebrity doppelgänger) > [@kayaker](#): > > My personal contacts are mostly just first names or nicknames (I have a contacts “Dealer”). My pot dealer used to be in my phone with the last name “Green”. Now, I just go to the store. … But, yeah, people go in my contacts as firstname lastname: even family. It’s annoying if I input somebody and don’t have their last name to add. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/29 "2023-01-20T15:56:36Z")
I put _everyone’s_ full first and last name in my phone, including my wife and parents. To me it’s an index for a database and an index must be thorough and official. And yes I find it annoying when I don’t know a contact’s full name. I also hate the modern times, because it seems like everything is alphabetized by tue first word, like my music. No! _Jimi Hendrix_ should be alphabetized under _Hendrix_ not _Jimi_ _The Jimi Hendrix Experience_ should be alphabetized under _Jimi_, not _The_ ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/30 "2023-01-20T16:10:47Z")
Most of my contacts are first name- last name with one exception, I have a lot of professional contacts where I’ve only entered the first name and the company name. Most of these are the workers for the various contractors I work with, who are listed as, for example….Arthur - Superior Electric or Danny - AA Builders. I frequently don’t even know these guys last names. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/31 "2023-01-20T16:16:47Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > people go in my contacts as firstname lastname Do you guys have only a single field for “name”? My phone has a field for first name and a field for last name. There are also fields for company and title and “other comments”. I put first names in the first name field, and last names in the last name field. How it displays them is up to it. I have hundreds of names in my phone, and I don’t ever scroll along in alphabetic order, I search for something. That something might be “deborah” or it might be “armstrong” or it might be “electrician”. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/32 "2023-01-20T16:58:50Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Do you guys have only a single field for “name”? My phone has a field for first name and a field for last name. There are also fields for company and title and “other comments”. I put first names in the first name field, and last names in the last name field. I don’t have a single field name. I do as you do. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I don’t ever scroll along in alphabetic order, I search for something. That something might be “deborah” or it might be “armstrong” or it might be “electrician”. See, this is an example of an obviously good idea that I inexplicably never considered: using the search bar (meaning you can look them up by first or last name). ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/33 "2023-01-20T17:04:40Z")
Most of my contacts are listed as first name only. Mind you, I, also, am the kind of person that uses full words, capitalization and punctuation in SMS messages. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/34 "2023-01-20T17:17:11Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Do you guys have only a single field for “name”? My phone has a field for first name and a field for last name. There are also fields for company and title and “other comments”. I put first names in the first name field, and last names in the last name field. How it displays them is up to it. I have hundreds of names in Of course I use all these fields. That’s the point. But most music services and other sources don’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/35 "2023-01-20T19:03:39Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > But most music services and other sources don’t do that. Pardon my obtuseness, but what other sources for contacts are the except keystroking them into your device using whatever standards you personally use for data entry? About the only alternative that comes to mind is adding the sender of an email as a contact. But most mail apps can get the sender’s first name, last name, and email address right, even if they can’t parse the rest of the sender’s sig block. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/36 "2023-01-20T19:06:27Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Pardon my obtuseness, but what other sources for contacts are the except keystroking them into your device using whatever standards you personally use for data entry? Somehow my office IT people got our entire list of business contacts onto my iPhone. I have thousands of contacts I didn’t enter manually. But, they all include first and last names, as far as i can tell. The other way it happens is if someone forwards me a contact from their phone. It will be in whatever form they had it. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/37 "2023-01-20T20:02:59Z")
John Kalibs Dad Erin Aidens Mom Are both “first names” I have in my contacts. I’d say about a third of my contacts have first name + memory aid. \*Names changed for the example ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/38 "2023-01-20T20:07:11Z")
Generally I have first name/last name for my contacts. But there are exceptions. My wife is listed under her first name only. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/39 "2023-01-20T20:09:52Z")
Is that’s the dad of John Kalib? Your dad, whose name is John Kalibs? Something else? He wouldn’t be in my phone that way. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450/40 "2023-01-20T20:51:53Z")
The nice thing about my phone is that it doesn’t need to be explained. Just like “Steve Drywall”, the only reason John is in my phone is because he is Kalibs dad. The missing apostrophe is authentic to the system. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-really-remarkable-to-have-people-close-to-you-in-your-phone-book-with-their-actual-full-name/978450.md?page=3)