AAMVA Person Name Rule
1. Rules for Delimiting Components within the Name Field
The Name field contains the following sub-fields:
- First Name (required)
- Middle Name(s) (optional)
- Last Name (required)
- Suffix Code (optional)
2. Format Rules
a) All of the Name fields
- All characters are in upper case.
- All letters must be part of the English alphabet. Letters from other alphabets must be transformed to their English equivalents (see Printable Characters).
- If a person only has a one word name, the name is coded in both the Last Name and First Name components.
b) Last Name component
The Last Name component contains only alphabetic characters and up to one embedded hyphen. Characters such as second hyphens, apostrophes, or spaces must be deleted when the Last Name component is coded.
The following illustrates these rules:
Case
|
Source Name
|
Encoded Name
|
i) Only one embedded hyphen allowed
|
Last-Na-me
|
LAST-NAME
|
ii) No leading hyphen allowed
|
-LastName
|
LASTNAME
|
iii) No trailing hyphen allowed
|
LastName-
|
LASTNAME
|
iv) No apostrophes allowed
|
La'Name
|
LANAME
|
v) No spaces allowed
|
Last Name
|
LASTNAME
|
vi) No numbers allowed
|
Last9Name
|
LASTNAME
|
c) First Name component
The First Name component contains only alphabetic characters. Any non-alphabetic characters, such as hyphens, apostrophes, and spaces, must be deleted when the First Name component is coded.
The following illustrates these rules:
Case
|
Source Name
|
Encoded Name
|
i) No hyphens allowed
|
Fir-st-Name
|
FIRSTNAME
|
ii) No apostrophes allowed
|
First'Name
|
FIRSTNAME
|
iii) No spaces allowed
|
First Name
|
FIRSTNAME
|
iv) No numbers allowed
|
First9Name
|
FIRSTNAME
|
d) Middle Name component
The Middle Name component, if submitted, contains only alphabetic characters and spaces. Single or multiple middle names may be coded. Use one space between multiple middle names. Other characters such as apostrophes or hyphens must be deleted when the Middle Name component is coded.
The following illustrates these rules:
Case
|
Source Name
|
Encoded Name
|
i) One space between middle names required
|
MidNameOne MidNameTwo
|
MIDNAMEONE MIDNAMETWO
|
ii) Hyphen not allowed
|
Mid-Name
|
MIDNAME
|
iii) Apostrophe not allowed
|
Mid'Name
|
MIDNAME
|
iv) Numbers not allowed
|
Mid9Name
|
MIDNAME
|
e) Suffix Code component
The Suffix Code component, if submitted, can contain only one of the Suffix Codes shown in the following table.
|
Suffix
|
Meaning or Synonym
|
JR
|
Junior
|
SR
|
Senior or Esquire
|
1ST
|
First
|
2ND
|
Second
|
3RD
|
Third
|
4TH
|
Fourth
|
5TH
|
Fifth
|
6TH
|
Sixth
|
7TH
|
Seventh
|
8TH
|
Eighth
|
9TH
|
Ninth
|
3. Field Length and Truncation Rules:
The components of the name can have the following lengths
- Last Name: 1 to 33 characters
- First Name: 1 to 33 characters
- Middle Name: 0 to 31 characters
- Suffix Code 0, 2 or 3 characters
A name may be shortened when non-allowable characters are dropped by rule 2 above. If the length of a source Name component still exceeds the maximum size, trailing characters must be truncated.
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