<name-alternatives> Name Alternatives

Container element for more than one version of a personal name, the element <name> (for example, the name written in both Japanese Kana characters and the Latin alphabet).

Usage/Remarks

The <name-alternatives> element is intended to collect multiple versions of a single name without appearing to multiply the number of names. (Three versions of a name is not the same as three different contributors.) Like the similar construction for graphics <alternatives>, it will be up to an application how multiple versions of a single name are to be processed. The @specific-use, @content-type, and @xml:lang attributes can be used to distinguish the cases for separate processing.
Usage
The <name-alternatives> element can be used to record:
  • A name in multiple languages (For example, a name in Korean or Chinese-Han characters and a transliterated version of the same name in the Latin alphabet);
  • A name in multiple language/script combinations (For example, a name in Japanese [xml:lang="ja-Jpan" for Han + Hiragana + Katakana] and the same name written in Kanji [xml:lang="ja-Hani"]);
  • An alternate name for sorting or searching (For example, a name in French with accented letters [such as an “é”] and a plain-letter lower-ASCII version of the same name with “é” replaced by “e” for sorting. The @specific-use attribute can be used to indicate that the ASCII version is only for “sort”, not for display.);
  • An alternate name indexing (For example, an XML database may need to record all the name variants found for an individual from “President Thomas Jefferson” to “Long Tom”, with @specific-use used to mark “primary” and “index”.); or
  • Both validated and known-to-be-incorrect names. (For example, in the PubMed DTD, there is an attribute called “ValidYN” [valid yes or no], that can be used to record the fact that one version of a name was received, found to be in error and corrected. Only the corrected version should be displayed, but both name variants might be used for searching.)
ID Attribute
The names inside a <name-alternatives> do not take a unique identifier because they are all the same name. This Tag Set assumes that any necessary unique identifier will be placed on the enclosing element (such as the <contrib> element or the <principal-investigator> element) that contains the name alternatives.
String Name
Both <name> and <string-name> are allowed inside <name-alternatives>. Within a <name-alternatives> grouping, the element <string-name> can be used to hold an undifferentiated transliteration (one not tagged with specific name elements such as <surname>) or a search-specific name.

Best Practice

For this Tag Set, the <string-name> within a <name-alternatives> should not be used for the primary name. The primary name should be tagged with a <name> element.
Attributes

Base Attributes

Models and Context
May be contained in
Description
Content Model
<!ELEMENT  name-alternatives
                        %name-alternatives-model;                    >
Expanded Content Model

((name | string-name)+)

Tagged Samples
Name in two languages
...  
<name-alternatives>
 <name name-style="western"><surname>Chu</surname>
  <given-names>J. H.</given-names></name>
 <string-name name-style="eastern" xml:lang="zh">褚君浩</string-name>
</name-alternatives>
...
Authors in two languages
...
<contrib-group>
 <contrib contrib-type="author">  
  <name-alternatives>
   <name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
    <given-names>Y. P.</given-names></name>
   <string-name name-style="eastern" xml:lang="zh">张轶泼</string-name>
  </name-alternatives>
  <xref ref-type="aff" rid="a1">1</xref>
  <xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="n1">a)</xref>
 </contrib>
 <contrib contrib-type="author">
  <name-alternatives>
   <name name-style="western"><surname>Isobe</surname>
    <given-names>M.</given-names></name>
   <string-name name-style="eastern" xml:lang="zh">磯部光孝</string-name>
  </name-alternatives>
  <xref ref-type="aff" rid="a2">2</xref>
 </contrib>
 <contrib contrib-type="author">
  <name-alternatives>
   <name name-style="western"><surname>Liu</surname>
    <given-names>Yi</given-names></name>
   <string-name name-style="eastern" xml:lang="zh">刘仪</string-name>
  </name-alternatives>
  <xref ref-type="aff" rid="a1">1</xref>
 </contrib>
</contrib-group>
...
Alternative scripts
...
<contrib-group>
 <contrib contrib-type="author">
  <name-alternatives>
   <name name-style="eastern" xml:lang="ja-Jpan">
    <surname>中西</surname>
    <given-names>秀彦</given-names>
   </name>
   <name name-style="western" xml:lang="en">
    <surname>Nakanishi</surname>
    <given-names>Hidehiko</given-names>
   </name>
   <name name-style="eastern" xml:lang="ja-Kana">
    <surname>ナカニシ</surname>
    <given-names>ヒデヒコ</given-names>
   </name>
  </name-alternatives>
  <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">&ast;&ast;</xref>
 </contrib>
 <aff-alternatives id="aff2">
  <aff>
   <institution xml:lang="ja-Jpan">国立言語学博物館</institution>
  </aff>
  <aff>
   <institution xml:lang="en">National Museum of 
    Linguistics</institution>
  </aff>
 </aff-alternatives>
</contrib-group>
...
Alternate for indexing (no ligature)
...
<contrib contrib-type="author">
 <name-alternatives>
  <name specific-use="primary" name-style="western">
   <surname>Stoe&szlig;el</surname>
   <given-names>Jan</given-names></name>
  <name specific-use="index" name-style="western">
   <surname>Stoessel</surname>
   <given-names>Helen</given-names></name>
 </name-alternatives>
</contrib>
...
Both incorrect and as-corrected names
...
<contrib contrib-type="author">
 <name-alternatives>
  <name>
   <surname>Smyth</surname>
   <given-names>John</given-names></name>
  <name specific-use="invalid">
   <surname>Smith</surname>
   <given-names>John</given-names></name>
 </name-alternatives>
</contrib>
...