How to cite: Authors' Names

Complex Names

Many names have different parts, but are parseable into FAMILY NAME, JR/III, GIVEN NAME. In our bibliography, we e.g. have the following cases of complex family names:

  • Maynard Smith, John
  • Ullmann-Margalit, Edna
  • Barcel{\'o} Aspeitia, Axel Arturo
  • Crapo Kim, Ruthanne Soohee
  • Murgueitio Ram{\'{\i}}rez, Sebasti{\'a}n
  • McBay Merritt, Melissa
  • Muelder Eaton, Marcia
  • Duhan Kaplan, Laura
  • Melo Lopes, Filipa
  • Zendejas Medina, Pablo
  • Ibn Saud, Abdul Aziz
  • al-Hakim, Tawfiq

This is distinguished from the case where another family name (e.g. someone’s maiden name) becomes part of the first name:

  • Alcoff, Linda Mart{\'{\i}}n
  • Rorty, Am{\'e}lie Oksenberg
  • Battin, Margaret Pabst
  • Adams, Marilyn McCord
  • Millikan, Ruth Garrett
  • Baker, Lynne Rudder
  • Islekel, Ege Selin
  • Coverdale, Helen Brown
  • Cohoe, Caleb Murray
  • Isaac, Manuel Gustavo
  • McNabb, Tyler Dalton
  • Siscoe, Robert Weston
  • Fard, Sahar Heydari
  • Vaidya, Anand Jayprakash
  • Beck, Lewis White
  • Battin, Margaret Pabst
  • Kittay, Eva Feder
  • Thomson, Judith Jarvis
  • Shell, Susan Meld 

Spanish and Portuguese names behave differently in this respect:

  • Spanish “Juan L{\’o}pez Rodr{\’{\i}}guez” becomes ”L{\’}opez Rodr{\’{\i}}guez, Juan”
  • Portuguese “João Rodrigues Lopes” becomes “Lopes, João Rodrigues”

Some articles and prepositions are part of the family name. This is the case for all capitalised ones, and the following: 

  • all Afrikaans names (de, du, van der, von)
    Dutch: ver
  • all English names (d’, de, de la, du, le, van, van der von)
  • French: contraction of article and preposition – la, le, du, des
  • German: article or contraction of article and preposition: Am, Aus’m, Vom, Zum, Zur
  • all Italian names (a, d’, da, de, del, della, di, li, lo)
  • Spanish: article only: el, la, las
  • Swedish: de

A second category are names where the prefix is dropped when the last name is used alone, as e.g. in inline citations:

  • Musset, Alfred de
  • Tocqueville, Alexis de
  • La Fontaine, Jean de
  • Humboldt, Alexander von
  • Beethoven, Ludwig van
  • Silva, Agostinho da
  • Las casas, Bartolom{\’e} de

The Tricky Case: non-dropping Particles

The tricky case is where we have a real name prefix (aka “non-dropping particle”), as in “van Inwagen”. In this case, the inline citation should be “van Inwagen 2005”, the bibliography entry “van Inwagen 2005”, but sorted under “I”, not under “v”.

  • Czech: z
  • Danish: af, av
  • Dutch: De, Den, op de, ter, Van, Van der, Van’t
  • French: proposition alone: de, d’
  • German: Von, Von der, Zu
  • Norwegian: af, av
  • Portuguese: Da, Dos
  • Spanish: De, De las, Del, De los

To get this, the prefix must be lower-case and we have to add “options = {useprefix=true}.” This will then work with pandoc 3.2 and above, thanks to an issue raised by us and solved by Mac Farlane himself.

See some examples of bib entries that work properly under pandoc 3.2:

  • @book{vaninwagen:1983,author = {van Inwagen, Peter},date = {1983},title = {{An Essay on Free Will}},address = {Oxford},publisher = {Oxford University Press},options={useprefix=true}}
  • @book{alfarabi:1990,author = {al Farab{\=i}},date = {1990},title = {{Trait{\'e} des habitants de la cit{\'e} id{\'e}ale}},series = {{{\'E}tudes musulmanes}},address = {Paris},publisher = {Librairie philosophique Jean Vrin},options={useprefix=true}}
  • @incollection{definetti:1964,author = {de Finetti, Bruno},date = {1964},title = {{Foresight: Its Logical Laws, Its Subjective Sources}},crossref = {kyburg_he-smokler:1980},pages = {93--158}}
  • @article{delasherasgomez:2018,author = {de las Heras G{\'o}mez, Roma},date = {2018},title = {{Thinking Relationship Anarchy from a Queer Feminist Approach}},journal = {Sociological Research Online},volume = {24},number = {4},pages = {644--660},doi = {10.1177/1360780418811965},options={useprefix=true}}

Mononyms

We also have a couple of names which consist of just one block, enclosed in curly brackets. Some examples:

  • ​​{{\'A}sta [{\'A}sta Kristjana Sveinsd{\'o}ttir]}
  • {Abdull Allah} (James Edward Z.~de Hosey-Ryan)
  • {Adam de Wodeham}
  • {Aegidius Aurelianensis}
  • {Ammonius}
  • {Avicenna} (Ibn S{\=i}n{\=a})
  • {Biblioth{\`e}que du Congr{\`e}s International de Philosophie}
  • {Chuck D}
  • {G.W.-Leibniz-Gesellschaft}
  • {John Duns Scotus}
  • {Open Science Collaboration}
  • {Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia}
  • {William of Ockham}

They usually need a “shortname” field for inline citations: the inline citation should be “Ockham 2012”, but the bibliography entry should be “William of Ockham 2012, “...””.

Sources

Topics