TL;DR

My legal name in India is simply Harshvardhan. Because most forms expect both a first and a last name, I have had to adapt it to several systems: Harshvardhan Harshvardhan in many European records, FNU Harshvardhan in American records, and M Harshvardhan as my academic pen name. In the UAE, I am also recorded as Harshvardhan Rajendra Prasad because my father’s name has been added as my last name.

Here is a conversation I had on Teams with one of my instructors when I wanted to clarify a few things.

Instructor: Hi, what is your name? I need your name to go over your answers.

Me: Harshvardhan. It would be registered in UTK system as FNU Harshvardhan or M Harshvardhan. I don’t have last name so every system works differently.

Instructor: What do you mean you do not have last name?

Me: My legal name is Harshvardhan. No last or middle name.

Instructor: How?

Me: In my family it’s common and in India its allowed. :sweat_smile:

Instructor: Interesting!

This conversation was the highlight of my day. I laughed at how unusual a single name seemed in the West.

Names are precious markers of identity. Two or three syllables can call out a person and everything we associate with them. For humans, the general convention is to have multiple names: first, middle, and last. For animals, however, we seem perfectly comfortable with one. A Rottweiler named Tommy in North America is Tommy, and so is a Doberman named Tommy in India. They do not need family names because their human owners do not feel obliged to lend them one.

Human names can still be strange to unfamiliar eyes. For example, Elon Musk called his child X Æ A-Xii, and CNN has a guide to help with the pronunciation.

What happens when you grow up in a family where last names are as fluid as first names and there is no concept of a middle name? I am from one of those families, and I am not alone. Do not get me wrong: even in India, having only a first name is uncommon. Last names remain important for arranged marriages and many social customs. My marriage profile would look dubious to most matchmakers.

I was named Harsh at birth and Harshvardhan when I enrolled in school. No middle or last name. Others in my family have similar arrangements: my father’s last name differs from those of my grandfather and grandmother, and my mother’s differs from those of her parents. My mother did not take my father’s name after marriage. Like me, my brother has no last name. My sister’s last name differs from those of our parents and grandparents.

Why?

I had the same question when people told me about the family names.

By taking up a name, you signal your belonging to a particular group, which may or may not work in your favour depending on the circumstances. Would it not be better to allow people more freedom to choose a last name as well?

The academic world is still largely oblivious to single names. Sheherazade and Ardiantiono (2020) wrote an excellent article in Nature: Attention science: some people have only one name.

To register for a scientific conference is an easy task for most, but not for us. Like many Indonesian people, we have a single name. Websites often do not allow us to proceed from one page to the next unless we fill out a ‘Last/Family name’ box — something we’re unable to do honestly. Instead, we populate these boxes, wherever they appear, with our first name again or some variant of ‘NA’.

Word, Sheherazade and Ardiantiono. Word.

One name, several systems

The short-term workaround is more nuisance than trouble. I have to force my name to fit the general convention of a first and a last name. Depending on the system, I therefore appear as Harshvardhan Harshvardhan, FNU Harshvardhan, or M Harshvardhan (my academic pen name).

The UAE has given me another version. Here, my father’s name, Rajendra Prasad, has been added as my last name, so I am also Harshvardhan Rajendra Prasad. My linked faculty profile at the American University of Sharjah uses that form. These variations help different systems accommodate a single name; they do not change the name I grew up with.

If you reached here and went through my ramble, or really anything on my website, you have gained the liberty to call me “Harsh”. Pronounced exactly as you imagine.

Updated August 3, 2026: I added the UAE form of my name to reflect the naming convention used in my local records and on my university profile.