Customs and cultures determine how each society will choose personal and family names. Some use one personal name, some use more. Some of us adopt our spouse’s last name, while some do not. Family names may come from only one parent or both. Sometimes the family name will come first, sometimes last. Some languages require that the personal name have certain meanings. We will compare the naming systems derived from English-speaking countries, Vietnam and Latin America, allowing us to better understand the names of some of our neighbors, people in the news and our own family members.