Q. How do I cite and reference names with multiple parts or determine which order to list authors' names?

APA 6th Edition (scroll down for 7th edition)

Multipart Surnames

For information about how to cite and reference multipart author surnames (including authors with hyphenated surnames, two different surnames, particles in their surnames, and suffixes in their surnames), please see: “What’s in a Name? Two-Part Surnames in APA Style.”

Uncertainty Regarding Which Names are First, Middle, and Last Names

For advice regarding how to determine which names are the author’s first, middle, and last names, please see: “What’s in a Name? Two-Part Surnames in APA Style.”

Cultural Variations in Name Order

For information about cultural variations in name order, and suggestions regarding which name order to follow in your citations and references, please see: “What’s in a Name? Cultural Variations in Name Order.”

Additional Resources

For more information regarding author names, please see the following WriteAnswers entries:

• How should I present the author(s)'s and/or editor(s)'s names in my reference in APA style?
• How should I reference an author with "Jr." or "III" in his name?
• How should I reference a work with an author listed as "with" in APA Style?
• How do I cite a resource by "Anonymous" or without a stated author in APA Style?

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Lee, C. (2017a, May 17). What’s in a name? Cultural variations in name order [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2017/05/whats-in-a-name-cultural-variations-in-name-order.htm

Lee, C. (2017b, May 4). What’s in a name? Two-part surnames in APA style [Blog post]. https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2017/05/whats-in-a-name-two-part-surnames-in-apa-style.html

APA 7th Edition

When providing authors’ names in text, “write the author’s name exactly as it appears on the published work, including hyphenated surnames and two-part surnames” (American Psychological Association [APA], n.d., Format of Individual Names section). Also, use the capitalization preferred by the author in citations and references, so if authors prefer all lowercase letters for first and last names, keep that formatting (APA, 202, p. 287).  

Hyphenated names

• If last names are hyphenated, keep that formatting in citations and references.
• “When given names are hyphenated, retain the hyphen and include a period after each initial by no space (e.g., Xu, A.-J., for Ai-Jun Xu)” (APA, 2020, p. 286).

Uncertainty regarding which names are first, middle, and last names

• “If uncertain about the proper format for a name, consult other works that cite that author, bibliographic database records, or the author’s website or curriculum vitae (CV) to determine the appropriate format” (APA, 2020, p. 287).

Additional resources

For more information regarding author names, please see the following WriteAnswers entries:

• How should I present the author(s)'s and/or editor(s)'s names in my reference in APA style?
• How should I reference an author with "Jr." or "III" in his name?
• How should I reference a work with an author listed as "with" in APA Style?
• How do I cite a resource by "Anonymous" or without a stated author in APA Style?

Reference

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Elements of reference list entries. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/elements-list-entry

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000