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<name-alternatives> Name Alternatives

Container element for more than one version of a personal name (<name> or <string-name>), for example, one name written in both Japanese Kana characters and in 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 author name is not the same as three different contributors.) Like the element <alternatives>, which is a similar construction for objects such as graphics, an application must determine 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 Examples
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”, or 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 for indexing (For example, a publisher may choose to record several name variants for an individual: a nickname, author-pseudonym, maiden name, religious name, or tribal name. The attribute @specific-use could be used to record the rationale for the name variant, such as “primary”, “index”, or “table-of-contents”. Alternatively, or in addition, the attribute @content-type could be used to record the type of name variant, such as “nickname”, “maiden-name”, “pseudonym”, etc.);
  • A version of the name in a different arrangement. (For example, since the order of the <surname> and <given-names> is fixed in NISO STS.)
ID Attribute
The names inside a <name-alternatives> do not generally have 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 that contains the <name-alternatives> wrapper.
Attributes

Base Attributes

id
xml:base
Models and Context
May be contained in
<contrib>, <element-citation>, <mixed-citation>, <person-group>, <related-article>, <related-object>
Description
Any one of:
Content Model
<!ELEMENT  name-alternatives
                        %name-alternatives-model;                    >
Expanded Content Model

((name | string-name)+)

Related Resources