Single name field
- Better user experience. Things go faster when using a single field. More fields = more friction.
- Prevent confusion. Having one name field eliminates confusion in some places (and cultures) where the name is handled a bit differently (i.e in Japan, Korea, and Romania the family name is placed before the first name).
- Multi-cultural support. It's easier to handle long names such as Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, that don't fit the common structure. Not every user has a first and last name. Their cultural background determines how their name is formed. For example, if you’re from Latin America, the chances are that you have two last names, one from each parent. If you’re Chinese, your family name is first, personal name is last, and you always use them together.
- Easier to support titles (i.e / Mr. Dr. etc.).
- No need to align with location-specific terminology (i.e. first/last name vs. given/family name).
- Many users (mainly young ones) are not thrilled to provide their full name, age, or gender.A single name field feels less "demanding" and encourages entering partial names or nicknames.
To conclude, using a single "full name" field can solve a few cultural challenges and improve the user experience.
Split the name to first and last name
- Personalized communication. Whether you're using push notifications, emails, or in-app messages, using the first name makes the message more personal and effective.
- Business needs. If your product operates in (or needs to integrate with) industries with strong identification requirements (i.e. medical, government, financial, insurance, legal).
- Technical needs. If you need to use some APIs that require first and last name - you will need to have this information available accordingly.
- Functionality. Storing the name in separate fields will allow better filters, search, and sort capabilities in the product.
- Usability. It's true that one field is faster than two, but since most web browsers support auto-fill, the "extra effort" is not significant.
Asking yourself these questions may help:
- Why we are asking users to give us their names (list the use cases)?
- (Now look at your list and ask) Is first name enough?
- Is last name enough?
- If not (need both of them), how we use it? Do we use it together or separately?
👉 Why Your Form Only Needs One Name Field
👉 Why do apps refer to singular users as ‘they’ instead of using ‘he’ or ‘she’?