The names that break the internet

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Computers may have become smart enough to beat humans in the world’s most complicated board game, but occasionally, they get confused by something as simple as a name.

Due to the nature of certain computer systems, some names will bring up error messages or even crash websites, potentially blocking users from entering important information.

Names may just be too long for particular online forms to bear, or for people with the last name ‘Null,’ the problem lies in the language of programming.

 

Computers may have become smart enough to beat humans in the world’s most complicated game, but sometimes, they get confused by something as simple as a name. Some names are just too long for particular online forms to bear, but for others, the problem lies directly in the programming

People with the last name ‘Null,’ have grown accustomed to the difficulties presented by the word.

By definition, ‘null’ means nothing, or zero – and this carries over to the language of computer programming.

As Christopher Null explains in an article for Wired, the short last name can make a person ‘invisible to computers.’

While some websites will accept the name, others will show the user an error message, explaining that the last name field cannot be left blank, or that the word is a ‘reserved term’ which cannot be used.

Or in a more extreme result, the site will crash.

To work around the issue, Null has tried multiple initial-name combinations, and typically relies on a trick in which he adds a period to his last name, making it ‘Null.’

WHY COMPUTERS GET CONFUSED BY CERTAIN NAMES 

When it comes to the last name ‘Null,’ the issue lies in the computer system.

By definition, ‘null’ means nothing, or zero – and this carries over to the language of computer programming.

This last name can make a person ‘invisible’ to the computer, bringing up error messages or crashing the site. 

Other problems center on the length of the particular name. Many people have run into difficulties when they discover that their name is too long for the system to support.

These issues are known as ‘edge cases,’ or problems for which the system was not designed.

In many cases, people with names that ‘confuse’ computers are forced to manipulate the spelling for online forms, shortening it or using initials to work around the issue.

But, this doesn’t work with many official websites, in some cases including banking or government services.

‘As a consequence, Japanese paper forms and computer systems are often limited in the length of names they will accept, because (to a Japanese system architect or government bureaucrat) a person with a 20 character name sounds as absurdly non-normative as someone would be in England if their name was 100 letters long.’

 

Patrick McKenzie has run into his own share of name-related issues in Japan, where his name is too long for forms

McKenzie explains that the Japanese language has three distinct types of characters: hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

The programmer goes by a Japanese name that is a transliteration of his own into katakana, which is used to write foreign words, like his Western name.

Most web forms will ask a person to put in their name twice, once in kanji, and once in kana.

As he does not have a name in these forms (and explains that it would be ‘Extremely Odd’ and not officially allowed for a Westerner to adopt such a name) McKenzie has been confronted with a slew of problems.

On tax forms, the programmer had to shorten his name, and for his bank’s website, there was a period of time where he was unable to use it at all.

And recently, he was unable to open a college savings account for his daughter; his wife, who is not a foreign citizen, had to do it instead.

Over time, McKenzie has developed ways to work around some of the problems, carrying official documentation of his name and spending countless amounts of time explaining that he is not a fraud risk.

He has even written a letter to a bank branch manager to ask that the database be manually edited by the IT department. 

A few years ago, Hawaiian woman named Janice Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele experienced similar frustration with her 36-letter-long last name, which would not fit on her ID.

While her old state ID had accommodated her name, the new one sent after its expiration did not.

When she contacted her local county in Hawaii and asked them what could be done, they suggested she change her last name to make the situation easier on her and them.

Since then, the computer systems have been updated to amend the problem.

In many cases, people are forced to manipulate the spelling for online forms, shortening it or using initials to work around the issue.

But, this doesn’t work with many official websites, in some cases including banking or government services. 

Despite the frustrations, many people who ‘confuse’ computers have managed to maintain a positive outlook.

‘This is a very vexing but survivable nuisance for me,’ wrote McKenzie. ‘Other people, both in Japan and elsewhere, have it substantially worse.’

As Christopher Null explains in an article for Wired , the short last name can make a person ‘invisible to computers’

But sometimes, using the name just won’t work at all.

Occasionally, Null points out that the last name also ‘leads to harmless hilarity,’ with mail showing up to his house addressed only to ‘Mr.’

The Wired writer isn’t the only person with this last name to experience problems.

After getting married and taking on her husband’s last name, a Virginia woman became Jennifer Null.

Soon enough, she began to understand the gripes his family often joked about surrounding the name, Null told theBBC.

For airplane tickets, government websites, and even the utility bill, Null has run into trouble entering her personal information.

To work around this, she typically has ‘to do things the old-fashioned way,’ she explains to BBC, and make arrangements over the phone.

These problems are an example of ‘edge cases’ in a computer database, or the problems for which they were not designed.

Patrick McKenzie, a programmer who has run into his own share of name-related issues, told the BBC that computer systems aren’t necessarily tested for problems of these kinds.

While ‘Patrick McKenzie’ may not seem uncommon, in Japan – where he lives – computer systems are designed to work with much shorter names.

‘Japanese names are characteristically short when written in Japanese,’ McKenzie explained to Dailymail.com in an email.

‘The modal name is two characters for first name and two characters for last name. Three characters is semi-common. (Japanese people do not commonly have middle names.)

Source Courtesy Dailymail