Jerry,
Here are a few name recording customs that I learned back in the 80’s from my mentor.
1) Quotes around a name, John “Butch” JOHNSON, is a nickname.
2) Underlined name (previously an asterisk following the name), John David JOHNSON -or- John David* JOHNSON, Preferred/Call/Rufname
3) Uppercase Surname, John JOHNSON
4) For cultures that have multiple surnames all surnames are recorded, Maria SILVA SANTOS, each surname is considered independent when indexing.
5) For cultures where a previously identified surname is now used as part of a given name, it is recorded without additional marking, Hiram Ulysses Simpson GRANT, (NOTE: “Simpson” was his mother’s maiden name but not part of his “true” name, and used here just for illustration)
6) Patronymic names are treated as given names and not capitalized.
7) Maiden names are surrounded by parentheses
8) Italics, Used to denote title
9) Cautions.... Understand when a surname prefix is part of the surname and when it is not, based on culture. NOTE: I never fully understood this because no-one I’ve worked with either knew about or used them. For example di, von, van, De, Di. Different cultures make them part of or not part of the surname.