Do not separate the text fields for first and last name.

There are people whose “last” name comes first and whose “first” name(s) come last. There are people with no first name; there are people with no last name.

The correct UI for entering a name is a single text field.

Wookey (no first name) blogs about this.

• Fallacy 20: People have last names, family names, or anything else which is shared by folks recognized as their relatives.
• Fallacy 29: Confound your cultural relativism! People in my society, at least, agree on one commonly accepted standard for names.

A common excuse heard for splitting the name field is that you want to send out email announcements where you address the person like, “Dear John”. A strategy for dealing with this is described in another section.