Name Type

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See the Credits page for rules for entering the GCD Official Name.


For all other names entered for any creator, choose a type of name from the drop-down list. The type can be left blank in case no determination can be made to which type a name corresponds.

  • Name at Birth - first names and family name at birth
  • Changed Name - first names and family name due to legal change (including marriage or gender change)
  • Pen Name - any known signature, alias, abbreviation, or collaboration
  • Common Alternative Name - regularly used minor deviations of normally credited names
    • Examples:
    • Walter Simonson credited as Walt Simonson
    • Ed Herron credited as France Herron
    • Robert Kanigher credited as Bob Kanigher

To explain further, a Common Alternative Name is a commonly used alternative to a creator's full name, which is normally their name at birth. It encompasses shortened forms of the name, such as nicknames, or one of the given names. For example, Will Eisner is an Official GCD Name (used most often) which is a Common Alternative Name because his full name (name at birth) is William Erwin Eisner. Therefore, William E. Eisner, William Eisner, W.E. Eisner, and Will E. Eisner would also be alternative names (shortened forms of the full name). Name at birth would be his full legal name at birth; Changed Name would be any other full legal names he held (for example, if he'd legally changed his name for some reason (marriage for example, or a sex change, or changing the spelling to better fit in with the general populance (such as some immigrants do))), any shortened version of a Name at Birth or Changed Name is a Common Alternative Name.

  • Joint Name - for situations where several creators work together under a self-selected name

The following ones are deprecated and need to be removed

  • Given (birth) Name – first name and any other legal names other than family name
  • Family Name – surname
  • Native Language Name
  • Other Language Name – name as used in comics as spelled in characters other than our officially adopted language of record. Probably should have a 2 nd field attached, giving the ISO language codes for this


(end of definition)


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