I've contributed quite a few titles with this explanation in the notes.

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There are simple rules to decipher first and last names:
* If a non-Asian first name is listed first, then that goes in the first name field. The rest in the last name field. Ie "Simon/Yam" and "Tony/Leung Ka Fai".

* When the name has two Asian words, the first word is the family name, so it goes in the last name field. Ie Lam Suet -> Suet Lam.

* When the name has three Asian words, the first word goes in the last name field, the second word in the first and the third word goes into the middle name field. Ie "Lam Ka Tung" -> Ka/Tung/Lam.

However, I did crossreference with the credit lookup, to see if there are commonly used names. Most of them are written with a hyphen between the first and middle name.

So far, every one has been accepted. Yes, it takes some time to get the cast right, but it pays off in the end. Stop arguing and get to it! 

Quoting ya_shin:

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Quoting EnryWiki:

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I would only enter John//Smith, id est the name on screen entered in the appropriate name fields ("Smith" in the Last name field, and so on),

not John//Smith credited as Smith John.
EDIT: The latter, by the way, would be conflicting with the CLT system.

What's the conflict?

If there is a conflict, it would probably mean that he actually is credited Smith John more often and it would rightfully become his common name.

If he is only credited as such once, then it's the odd one out and no harm is done.

CommonName = MostFrequent (CreditedNames)

I think a lot of confusion would be avoided if there was only one entry for names of people instead of three (First, Middle, Last).

True, of course. The thing is: as long as we use first name / last name as credited, we can't sort by family name if your collection holds both Western and Asian names...

Quoting marcelb7:

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Nope. Lam is his family name. You seem to be quite the expert on Asian names, Skip. Just how many Asian movies do you have in your collection?

If we had a field for family name we would be good to go. It's first name last name at the moment. Parsing doesn't worry me now we have as credited.

The resuly clearly shows the need of Ken to step in and decide.

Let me try to wrap up the outcome of this poll:

44% think we should purely use as credited for chinese names. The decicive question for me is, if from a data consistancy point of view we can live with having western first name in the 'first name' field while for chinese we have their family name in the 'first name' field. If we do this consistantly also the linking should work.

14% thought we should reverse the chinese name so the the field are filled by their meaning (?) in the database. I think it should not be done like this since it contradicts our 'as credited rule.

42% voted for a combination of the a.m 2 solutions using the as credited feature to fill the database correctly and at the same time apply the as credited rule. I personally think this is the most accurate solution but am still not in favour for it since it means a double entry for every chinese name.

Somebody once brought up the idea to have a tickbox for the name 'reverse order'. That might be a solution...

At the moment any vote on name changes regarding chinese names is justified since there is NO clear rule and the community has ver diverted ideas about how this should be handled.

KEN, please take over !

you're keeping it vague! If it is a Western Styled credit then it is as credited: Gong Li.

Quoting sugarjoe:

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14% thought we should reverse the chinese name so the the field are filled by their meaning (?) in the database. I think it should not be done like this since it contradicts our 'as credited rule.

I take Last Name to mean Family Name, as in its usual meaning in the English language (even when it refers to Eastern names).
Therefore, if the credits read "Fonda Henry", "Gong Li", etc., I guess we are allowed to enter First Name=Henry , Li, ... and Last Name=Fonda, Gong, ... That way, we enter their Names as credited on screen, but placing them into the correct fields (Henry and Li are First Name, Fonda and Gong are Last Names).

However, a clarification by the Powers That Be would be most welcome and I would settle for any solution Ken wants, as long as there is a clear rule.