I'm filing out an application form on a US website. The website is asking for my first name and last name. The Arabic name system is probably different from the English one. My name as it exactly appears on my national ID is Sara Adel Mahmoud Gad. My first name is Sara, my father's name is Adel, my grandfather's name is Mahmoud, and my family name (which is probably my great grandfather's name) is Gad. The part Adel Mahmoud Gad is shared among the family members, so my brother's name is Ali Adel Mahmoud Gad. Now What is my last name? Is it Gad? Or is it Adel Mahmoud Gad?
There has also been times when websites ask about middle name. What is my middle name? Is it Adel, or Adel Mahmoud? Or do I not have a middle name at all?
Best Answer
Generally, when you read last name it really means family name or sur name.
But what do you mean when you say "family name"? Are your siblings also called ___ Adel Mahmoud Gad? Or just given-name some-other-name Gad?
If your whole family uses the names Adel Mahmoud Gad, you should use that as your "last name." I'm not sure about the rules in your culture, but many Spanish and Hispanic people have multiple family names, for example Gabriel García Márquez. His "last name" is not Márquez, it's García Márquez.
If you're working with a webform that's too stupid to accept spaces in a last name...I guess just use Gad.
As for middle names, fortunately, these are rarely required. If you decide that Gad is your family name, you could use both Adel and Mahmoud as your middle name. Again, if it's a webform, and inflexible, you'll just have to pick one. For official documents, it doesn't really matter what you use as a middle name, but just be consistent.