# Specific name formatting for certain names/families

**URL:** https://gramps.discourse.group/t/specific-name-formatting-for-certain-names-families/6742
**Category:** Ideas
**Tags:** bug-filed
**Created:** [January 7, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/specific-name-formatting-for-certain-names-families/6742 "2025-01-07T00:11:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![ML8991](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@ML8991](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/ML8991)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/specific-name-formatting-for-certain-names-families/6742/1 "2025-01-07T00:11:22Z")

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Again, unsure how to make an associated feature request, but another idea I had is what if we could have specific names that could be in a different format to the main ones.

A main example of this I could see is for mixed East Asian and Western families, where one would have their surnames first and the other forenames first. Is this at all a possibility, or is it just going to be a matter of inputting some names “wrong” (i.e. forenames for the East Asian names going in the surname section and vice versa (presuming a more Western focused tree) or vice versa (if a more East Asian focused tree).

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### Author: ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/specific-name-formatting-for-certain-names-families/6742/2 "2025-01-07T00:37:17Z")

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The Name editor (double-click a row in the Names tab of the Person editor) has a “Display as” override of the Name format (in Edit → preferences → Data tab) for every Alternative or Preferred Name. (Important. If you set a date range for ANY row in the Names tab of a Person, then ALL rows need to have a date range.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/0/0f24f7838c80106549c52f395f88e418bfbbabc4.png) ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/2/2792a34e4da95a75b4bd50edf6d32265e0bfc080.png)

You can create custom Name formats (in Edit → preferences → Data tab)

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/2X/d/d73c39710035402b48220bbd437a5ac67674a3e6.png)

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### Author: ![ML8991](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@ML8991](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/ML8991)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/specific-name-formatting-for-certain-names-families/6742/3 "2025-01-07T01:11:02Z")

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Of course, can’t believe I accidentally overlooked that part. So used to just amending the group as, I had forgotten the sort/display as.

Thank you for the reminder 🙂

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### Author: ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/1X/2ac1e712b7adf612e31ca08a55419f4cf37c0158.png) [@system](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/specific-name-formatting-for-certain-names-families/6742/4 "2025-02-06T01:11:09Z")

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