After reading that document and the comment section, it seems that the really distinct name variants are:
1. Full legal name (as it appears in a passport, e.g. William Robert Smith)
2. Full formal name (this is how you want to be addressed and/or referred in a formal context, e.g. Dr. Professor William R. Smith, MP".
3. Abbreviated formal name (e.g. W. R. Smith)
4. Informal name (how you want to be referred/addressed in less formal context, e.g. Bill Smith)
5. Highly informal name (how you want to be addressed in close circles, e.g. Bill)
6. Nickname (e.g. Chuck)
It seems that (more or less European) convention of having first name(s) and a last/family seems have this goal: being able to store just one variant and to generate other variants (except the nickname) according to fixed rules, in other words, automatically.
Of course you should ask a user only of what you need. So if the only reason you ask for a name is to be able to address them in messages, you should ask "how you would like me to call you?" or something like this.
You can give users an option to, say a check box, to indicate their names follow the "European" convention, and then give them the fields that allow to auto-generate name variants, allowing them to override if necessary.
1. Full legal name (as it appears in a passport, e.g. William Robert Smith)
2. Full formal name (this is how you want to be addressed and/or referred in a formal context, e.g. Dr. Professor William R. Smith, MP".
3. Abbreviated formal name (e.g. W. R. Smith)
4. Informal name (how you want to be referred/addressed in less formal context, e.g. Bill Smith)
5. Highly informal name (how you want to be addressed in close circles, e.g. Bill)
6. Nickname (e.g. Chuck)
It seems that (more or less European) convention of having first name(s) and a last/family seems have this goal: being able to store just one variant and to generate other variants (except the nickname) according to fixed rules, in other words, automatically.
Of course you should ask a user only of what you need. So if the only reason you ask for a name is to be able to address them in messages, you should ask "how you would like me to call you?" or something like this.
You can give users an option to, say a check box, to indicate their names follow the "European" convention, and then give them the fields that allow to auto-generate name variants, allowing them to override if necessary.
Just my 2 cents :-)