Compound Author Names

When a name consists of multiple parts, such as a compound or composite surname, or a double middle name, the processor needs to be explicitly told which words should be assigned to a specific attribute.

Connecting compound author names

If the parts of an author’s name aren’t assigned to the correct built-in attributes, they may output the wrong information if they’re referenced in the body of the document. For instance, if the name Ann Marie Jenson was entered on the author line or assigned to the attribute author, the processor would assign Ann to firstname, Marie to middlename, and Jenson to lastname based on the location and order of each word. This assignment would be incorrect because the author’s first name is Ann Marie.

When part of an author’s name consists of more than one word, use an underscore (_) between the words to connect them.

Example 1. Compound name syntax
= Document Title
firstname_firstname lastname; firstname middlename_middlename lastname

Compound names in the author line

In Example 2, the first author has a compound first name and the second author has a compound surname.

Example 2. Assign compound names in the author line
= Drum and Bass Breakbeats
Ann_Marie Jenson; Tomás López_del_Toro (1) (2)
1 To signal to the processor that Ann Marie is the author’s first name (instead of their first and middle names), type an underscore (_) between each part of the author’s first name.
2 The second author’s last name consists of three words. Type an underscore (_) between each word of the author’s last name.

The result of Example 2 is displayed below. Notice that the underscores (_) aren’t displayed when the document is rendered.

Compound author names displayed in the byline

The underscore between each word in a compound name ensures that the parts of an author’s name are assigned correctly to the corresponding built-in attributes. If you were to reference the first author’s first name or the second author’s last name in the document body, as shown in Example 3, the correct values would be displayed.

Example 3. Reference authors with compound names
= Drum and Bass Breakbeats
Ann_Marie Jenson; Tomás López_del_Toro

The first author's first name is {firstname}.

The second author's last name is {lastname_2}.

Like in the byline, the underscores (_) aren’t displayed when the document is rendered.

Compound author names displayed in the document body when referenced

Compound names in the author attribute

An underscore (_) should also be placed between each part of a compound name when the author is assigned using the author attribute.

Example 4. Assign a compound name using the author attribute
= Quantum Networks
:author: Mara_Moss Wirribi (1)

== About {author}

{firstname} lives on the Bellarine Peninsula near Geelong, Australia. (2)
1 Assign the author’s name to the author attribute. Enter an underscore (_) between each part of the author’s first name. This ensures that their full first name is correct when it’s automatically assigned to firstname by the processor.
2 The built-in attribute firstname is referenced in the document’s body. The author’s first name is automatically extracted from the value of author and assigned to firstname.

The result of Example 4, displayed below, shows that the processor assigned the correct words to the built-in attribute firstname since the author’s full first name, Mara Moss, is displayed where firstname was referenced.

Compound author name displayed in the byline using the author attribute