Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!uci-ics!gateway
From: Erik.Huizer%SURFNET.NL@cunyvm.cuny.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso.x400
Subject: Dutch names in X.400 and/or RFC 1148
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Date: 7 Jun 90 15:51:41 GMT
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One of the main problems I am facing, now I'm introducing 'real' users to
X.400 in SURFnet, is a peculiarity in Dutch surnames that I do not know how
to handle in X.400 and or RFC 1148 (987).

As the problem is easily recognisible for Dutch people, being used to this
peculiarity, I like some advice from 'foreign' experts on how to handle
this.

A surprisingly large part of the Dutch population has a surname consisting
of 1 or two adjectives and the real surname, e.g.:

Jan van der Steen   (givenName=Jan, surname=Steen, adjectives=van der)
Jan de Vries
Jan van Keulen

Names like these can be found in directories like the PTT telephone white
pages directory under the first letter of the surname. So you'd find Jan
van der Steen under the S.

If Jan van der Steen registers for a conference abroad, he has a random
chance to be found in the list of participants either under the S or under
the V or even maybe under the D.

My problem is of course where do I put the adjectives in an X.400
OR-address? In the Surname or in the GivenName?
My personal view would be to put the adjectives in the Surname.

Then how does a RFC987/1148 gateway handle this? What comes out will be
something like (RFC1148 par 4.2.1 and 3.4):
GivenName = Jan
Surname = van der Steen

mapping into: Jan.van der Steen@domain (RFC822)
Which is of course an unusable RFC-822 address.

The nicest RFC-822 adres would of course be:
Jan.van.der.Steen@domain, but the algorithm proposed in RFC1148 (par.
4.3.4.) does not handle this.

Of course I made lots of mistakes in interpreting the standards, so please
correct me. Any suggestions, opinions etc. on this subject are welcome,
except of course the suggestion that all the Dutch inhabitants should
Americanise (or Belgiumanise) their names to something like: Vandersteen


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___________________________|___|___|___|_________________________
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                            (n) (e) (t)
Erik Huizer                                    tel: +31 30 310290
Network development                            fax: +31 30 340903
SURFnet b.v.                            E-mail: Huizer@SURFnet.nl
P.O.box 19035
3501 DA Utrecht
The Netherlands