How do naming traditions differ among cultures?

How do naming traditions differ among cultures?

Norine Dresser (Writer) gives expert video advice on: When is it OK to call people by their first names?; Why should I be careful about complimenting babies? and more...

Naming traditions are tricky. For example, a Latino child, particularly from Mexico, will have what we call the first name, the second name will be the name of his father's family and the third name will be the name of his mother's family. There's never enough room on the computer generated list, so they just cut directly to the last name, which is usually the mother's name. Where, in fact, they would rather be know by their father's name, but because there's no room, they assume like in American tradition that it's the first name and then the last name. Middle name you get rid of. In many Asian cultures, the name that appears first is the family name, not the last name, the one that's last in sequence, so it's quite confusing. And in many cultures the woman does not take her husband's name.