According to the International Cataloguing Principles (ICP) the Form of Name for Persons as an authorized access point should be constructed following a standard: “When the name of a person consists of several words, the choice of first word for the authorized access point should follow conventions of the country and language most associated with that person, as found in manifestations or reference sources”. Thus, this set of documents summarizes the conventions for each country, established by each national cataloguing agency, to help other cataloguing agencies creating authority data worldwide.

The IFLA Cataloguing Section has published a list including conventions for 105 countries in 1996. This document is out of print, but a scanned version is available below:

Names of persons : national usages for entry in catalogues. — 4th revised and enlarged edition. — München : K.G. Saur, 1996. — xi, 263 p. — (UBCIM publications ; new series, vol. 16)

Scanned version (PDF; 11 MB)

Work to update the Names of Persons document has been carried out  in 2009 and 2010, and the IFLA Cataloguing Section has requested and received answers from many cataloguing agencies from around the world. Currently, the Names of Persons Working Group is making efforts to publish these updates online in order to make them available for other cataloguing agencies and to facilitate its revision .

UPDATE PROCESS

National libraries or cataloguing agencies willing to contribute with updates from your countries, please contact  Ricardo Santos, Priscilla Pun or Ahava Cohen.

You will receive the last version available from your country in editable format (if not posted below yet), so that you review it and submit your revised version for posting as soon as possible.

It’s highly recommendable to submit your updates using the template.

List of files available, sorted by alfabetical order, along with the date of the last update.

Languagues files:

Names of Persons – Arabic names (2018)

Names of Persons – Hebrew names (2018)

Names of Persons – Chinese names (2020)

Countries files:

Names of Persons – Albania (2016)

Names of Persons – Argentina (2010)

Names of Persons – Armenia (1977)

Names of Persons – Australia (2015)

Names of Persons – Azerbaijan (1977)

Names of Persons – Belarus (1997)

Names of Persons – Belgium (1995)

Names of Persons – Bosnia and Hercegovina (1996)

Names of Persons – Brazil (2016)

Names of Persons – Bulgaria (2016)

Names of Persons – Canada (1994)

Names of Persons – Chile (2016)

Names of Persons – Croatia (2010)

Names of Persons – Cuba (1995)

Names of Persons – Czech Republic (2016)

Names of Persons – Denmark (2016)

Names of Persons – Estonia (2016)

Names of Persons – Finland (2016)

Names of Persons – France (2009)

Names of Persons – Georgia (1977)

Names of Persons – Germany (2016)

Names of Persons – Greece (2020)

Names of Persons – Hungary (2016)

Names of Persons – Kazakhstan (1977)

Names of Persons – Kirgiziya (1977)

Names of Persons – Iceland (2010)

Names of Persons – Ireland (1996)

Names of Persons – Iran (2022)

Names of Persons – Italy (2017)

Names of Persons – India (1996)

Names of Persons – Indonesia (2010)

Names of Persons – Japan (2016)

Names of Persons – Latvia (2016)

Names of Persons – Lithuania (2017)

Names of Persons – Malaysia (2022)

Names of Persons – Mexico (2010)

Names of Persons – Moldova (1977)

Names of Persons – Netherlands (2016)

Names of Persons – New Zealand (2009)

Names of Persons – Nigeria (1995)

Names of Persons – Norway (2016)

Names of Persons – Peru (2010)

Names of Persons – Poland (2023)

Names of Persons – Portugal (2009)

Names of Persons – Romania (2016)

Names of Persons – Russian Federation (2016)

Names of Persons – Scotland (2016)

Names of Persons – Serbia (1994)

Names of Persons – Slovenia (2016)

Names of Persons – Spain (2015)

Names of Persons – South Africa (2016)

Names of Persons – Sweden (2016)

Names of Persons – Switzerland (2009)

Names of Persons – Tadzhikistan (1977)

Names of Persons – Tanzania (1976)

Names of Persons – Turkey (2018)

Names of Persons – Turkmenistan (1977)

Names of Persons – Ukraine (1977)

Names of Persons – Uruguay (2010)

Names of Persons – Uzbekistan (1977)

Please note that we are editing and uploading country files gradually. Do not hesitate to contact us if you need the file from your specific country, or if you need  to submit updates or corrections to those already online.

Reports

Report of activities, 2015-2016

Report of activities, 2014-2015

Report of activities, 2009-2010

Report of activities, 2008-2009