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→Call Name: sorry but I need to contest the accuracy of this section, please consider revising it and adding references.
===Call Name===
(The accuracy of this section is contested --[[User:Duncan|DuncanNZ]] 09:49, 26 August 2008 (EDT))<!-- we need to look in the email archive for a proper definition by the people who requested this feature. --> Call name is a transliteration of the German work ''rufname''. It is therefore sometimes a source of misunderstangingconfusion. It is not a nickname, or necessarily the ''name'' someone is ''called''. <!-- This is not necessarily correct: --><!-- It is however a part or a variation of the Given name which is the officially used part of that Given name. -->
Among the formal forenames given at birth some cultures pick out a particular one to use for official and normal public use: the Call Name. (Think of it as analogous to the ancient idea that a person's public name is not his 'real' secret name, knowledge of which would give power over him to others). One of the formal given birth forenames is taken (typically *not* the first) as the Call Name: it is an official name frequently underlined in official documents. The concept is common in Northern Europe; the call name is often a saint's name or that of an honoured relative; or the first name may be the 'spiritual' name, while the call name is a secular one. There are contrasting views on whether a shortened form of a person's name can also be a call name; some consider that to be a nickname; as an additional complication, for example in Sweden, the (official) call name may be a name that is different from any of the forenames given at birth.
