first name

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

first name (plural first names)

1. The first element of a full name in cultures that place the given name first.
   • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

     Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. […] Children address teachers by their first names. Even 15-year-olds do no more than 30 minutes' homework a night.

• (first element of a full name): birth name, given name, forename

• (first element of a full name): family name, last name, surname

• tin frames