Expand Name field to a first and last name field

[abfinteractive]

Currently when you register you are asked for your Name, which is the part that is displayed all throughout the site. The problem is people register with just their first name. This causes all kinds of confusion because there are duplicate names all over the site with no way to tell who is who. For exmaple, check out this screen shot. How in the world do I know which of the Marks is the one I want to add? There is no way to do this and it just causes confusion to members.

The name field needs to be expanded to a First name field and a last name field on registration and both fields need to be required. You can still hold them in the same fields in the database by combining them but as it is now this is a critical flaw for usability on the site.

[GautamGupta]

You can change the "Name" text to "Full Name" on the BuddyPress' settings page.

[abfinteractive]

Yes, and that still doesn't prevent users from just putting their first name in there either.

I can tell my users to give me 100 dollars each but that doesn't mean they will follow what the text says.

[abfinteractive]

Disregard the attachment, wasn't looking in the right place.

[apeatling]

Requiring first and last name does not work well for an international audience. Change the name field to first name and create a new field called last name, then make that required.

[abfinteractive]

The problem with that method is that you don't get the display_name field updated correctly so all the functions still pull just the first name which creates the exact same problem listed in the screen shot.

I don't understand how First and Last names do not work well for an international audience. What is facebook doing different so that it works for them?

This is still a flaw in Buddypress that needs to be addressed on some level, whether it be on registration with a First and Last name field or within the site to better distinguish members from each other, as such is needed in the first screen shot.

Right now I have two Andys, two Marks and two Mikes and have absolutely no idea who is who between those. That is a major flaw.

[GautamGupta]

As far as I know, BuddyPress displays the user's name everywhere with the profile link and avatar, except the invites page. So, I think the problem behind the reported problem should be fixed, i.e. a better approach for the invites page, maybe by including some good jQuery techniques.

But even now, atleast it is displaying the user's gravatar when the user is selected, so the person can view which person it is and remove him/her accordingly.

Till the time being, you can experiment if "Full name" field name works for you or not.

[abfinteractive]

I have changed it to Full Name as a temporary hail mary fix. Even the adding them to see their avatar is flawed as not everyone is going to upload an avatar, at least right away.

[study]

The limitation is more significant than merely finding ways to coerce users into entering full name in correct format. It reduces users choices to which they have become accustomed in using WordPress without BP. There they can enter four sets of name information:

User Name, First Name, Last Name, Nick Name plus, importantly choose which of the four will be displayed to the public.

BuddyPress eliminating these options is a real limitation on user privacy and identity control.

[DennisSmolek]

This would be an easy form fix with some jQuery. I think an admin option for "require last name" should be present, then just use jQuery to merge the two fields in a invisible form element.

[InterMike]

SocialEngine, a paid social networking script does something interesting: they have a bunch of special "pre-set" profile questions (​http://demo.socialengine.net/admin/user/fields), such as "First Name", "Last Name", "Gender", "Country", etc. And I think if you only chose to have just "First Name", then that'll actually be used as your username across the site. But if you choose to include "Last Name" as well, then you'll get a username to login with, but your full name will be shown across the site - like BuddyPress does.

Something like that would be good. Seems pretty simple, no?

Also, for each profile field, you can select options such as: Required?, Show on Browse Members Page?, Show on Member Profiles?, Show on Signup Page? Something more like this for BP would be great.

[nickshor]

I think BuddyPress profile fields related to NAME should eventually be mapped by default to WordPress profile fields to maintain consistency and give users privacy/identity control.

1. Username (already exist)
2. First Name (Default Visibility: My Friends, Let members change)
3. Last Name (Default Visibility: My Friends, Let members change)
4. Nickname (already exist? change it from Real Name? Default: display name as nickname)
5. Display name publicly as...

And related to groups invite and any other similar places, to avoid confusion we could use the unique field - the @username - placed in parentheses next to "Display Name"!

PS: Guys, I'm new to BuddyPress, just tell me if I bother you, preferably before you ignore me :)

[nickshor]

In BP 1.6.1 (now I see, sorry) there's already an option in the settings: "Enable BuddyPress to WordPress profile syncing", but that seams to work only when updating/editing the profile, not on account registration.

[DJPaul]

We're closing this ticket because it has not received any contribution or comments for at least two years. We have decided that it is better to close tickets that are good ideas, which have not gotten (or are unlikely to get) contributions, rather than keep things open indefinitely. This will help us share a more realistic roadmap for BuddyPress with you.

Everyone very much appreciates the time and effort that you spent sharing your idea with us. On behalf of the entire BuddyPress team, thank you.

If you feel strongly that this enhancement should still be added to BuddyPress, and you are able to contribute effort towards it, we encourage you to re-open the ticket, or start a discussion about it in our Slack channel. Please consider that time has proven that good ideas without contributions do not get built.

For more information, see ​https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2018/01/21/our-awaiting-contributions-milestone-contains/
or find us on Slack, in the #buddypress channel: ​https://make.wordpress.org/chat/