Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AK>  So, if you are a headmaster in school,


            Usage note:  as a female I might well be headmistress of a private school in this country but principal (gender neutral) of a public school.  :-)



AK>  and you want to find out who is that naughty boy
AK>  throwing rocks, you will ask him, "Why you are
AK>  not at a lesson?


            Assuming the incident occurred during class hours I'd probably say
... as Anton suggested... "Why are you not in class?



AK>  What's your second name?"


            I'd start by saying "What's your name?"  If he replied with only a given name I'd pursue the matter further, because in a large high school there could easily be dozens of kids who are known by the same first name.  The term "second name" could be confusing, though, in English.  Let's say we have a boy whose full legal name is on record in the office as

                     John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt

... meaning he has two given names & a double-barrelled surname.  I think he'd probably be called "John Schmidt" at school.  But some people use their middle name, i.e. the second of two given names, in preference to their first.  If we say "first name" they may or may not take that to mean the first name they are usually called by.  In general I avoid terms like first name, second name, and full name because I can't be sure how others will interpret them.

            Now, what to do instead?  If Mr. & Mrs. Jones & their 2.3 children use the surname "Jones" you can refer to it as a family name... but things are often more complex these days.  A woman may prefer to use her maiden name, for any number of reasons, and/or she may remarry.  IOW a parent's surname may not be the same as that of the individual who's throwing rocks or whatever.  I say "surname" because it covers a lot of territory including historical characters like Harold Bluetooth who may not have had family names as we know them.  :-))

            If "surname" is beyond the limits of the other person's vocabulary you could try "last name", but this might not work with e.g. recent immigrants from parts of Southeast Asia where the family name comes first.  "John what??" works in many cases although it sounds unbecoming of a principal... [chuckle].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+