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A particle chain lands in the given or middle name under the family-first orders #368
Description
A particle chain is a surname by construction — Lexicon.particles chains onto the following piece to build a family name. Under the family-first orders the chain is handed whatever position name_order assigns, so it can land in given or in middle:
default FAMILY_FIRST
Juan de la Vega family='de la Vega' given='de la Vega'
Juan Q. de la Vega middle='Q.', family='de la Vega' middle='de la Vega'
FAMILY_FIRST_GIVEN_LAST behaves as FAMILY_FIRST does. The grouping is identical in every case — [Juan][de la Vega] — so the chain is built the same way and only its placement differs.
Decision
The particle wins: a chain becomes the family name, whatever order was declared. Particles do not join given names; only titles join to given names.
Mechanism
The chain is built in the grouping stage, before roles exist. assign then hands positions out by _effective_order, and nothing consults the fact that a piece is a particle chain — so under family-first the trailing piece is the given position and the chain goes there.
Scope and verification
Family-first only. The default-order corpus is untouched, so tools/differential should come back with 0 diffs at all three baselines, the same clean result as #361 — that is the property to verify, not a ledger entry.
Related
- A title displaces a particle out of leading position, so
Dr. Van Johnsonreads as one surname #367 is the same principle violated through given-name titles instead of throughname_order(Sir de Mesnil→given='de Mesnil', no surname). That half does move the default-order corpus and needs ledger entries, which is why the two are split. - Should
de Mesnil Juanbe all surname, or familyde Mesnilplus givenJuan? #364 andMesnil Garcia destrands the particle under FAMILY_FIRST but folds it under FAMILY_FIRST_GIVEN_LAST #365 are not consequences of this:de Mesnil JuanandMesnil Garcia dehave no chain at all, because a leading particle deliberately never chains and a trailing one has nothing to chain onto. - Supersedes the sentence in particles_ambiguous has no effect on the parse under name_order=FAMILY_FIRST #359 that called
Juan de la Vega→given='de la Vega'underFAMILY_FIRST"working as intended". Keep a never-given particle attached under any name_order (#359) #361's code comments describe that row as what the fold's guard mechanically tests rather than as a blessed output, so they stay true either way.
Activity
derek73 commentedon Aug 10, 2026
Framing refined on #367 and it applies here too: the defect is that a particle chain — a multi-word surname assembled by
Lexicon.particles— is being placed as though it were an ordinary single name. On #367 a given-name title treats the chain as "the single name after me"; hereassignhands it whatever positionname_ordergives that piece. Same category error, two different rules making it.docs(rules): topic-review amendments from the particle-arc session (p…
derek73 commentedon Aug 17, 2026
Reversed by the order-precedence keystone in #386 — shipped behavior is correct.
The recorded decision here ("the particle wins: a chain becomes the family name, whatever order was declared") was made before the grouping/assignment split was stated, and it doesn't survive it. Grouping is vocabulary's job and is order-independent; assignment is
name_order's job.Juan de la Vegagroups[Juan][de la Vega], and underFAMILY_FIRSTthe first group is the family — sofamily='Juan',given='de la Vega'is the declared order being honored, not a defect.What
NON_GIVEN_NAME_PARTICLESguarantees is that the bare word never reads as a given name — not that no name part may begin with one.The asymmetry with the leading case (
rules.md#P1, where the fold does override the declared order) is P4's and predates this: a leading particle chains nothing, so without the fold pure position makes the bare particle the given name. Measurable today on the ambiguous half, where no fold fires —van Mesnil Juan→given='van',middle='Mesnil',family='Juan'.given='de'is exactly the reading the vocabulary exists to forbid.The
deviates: #368marker is removed fromrules.md#P1in #386. Full reasoning:decisions.md#P1, 2026-08-16 entries.docs(design): the order-precedence keystone, and reverse derek73#368