majfoalbkeopaza's profile

368 Messages

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8.3K Points

Monday, September 29th, 2025

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Name submissions: Automatic "fix" erroneously converts band names, stage names, etc. into last name, first name format

The U.K. indie-pop duo "Peggy Sue" has an IMDb page under their former name, "Peggy Sue & the Pirates". I want to submit a name change replacing their older name with the shortened name they've been using since circa 2008. Unfortunately, the name contribution page keeps automatically converting "Peggy Sue" into "Sue, Peggy". Peggy Sue is not a person whose first name is Peggy and last name is Sue. It is the name of a band and it should be sorted and alphabetized as a single phrase. Furthermore, even if there was a real person in this instance whose name was "Peggy Sue", it should be clear to any non-automated human being that the phrase "Peggy Sue" is made up of two first names and the word "Sue" is not supposed to represent a last name. The automatic "fix" is incapable of recognizing this and IMDb offers no way of bypassing it. Actors, musicians, comedians, etc. often go by stage names as opposed to their "real" names. These stage names sometimes don't include last names. However, if any user attempts to submit a name with more than one word in it, the automated system always "corrects" the last word into a last name, regardless of context or whether this is appropriate. "Billy Bob" becomes "Bob, Billy". "Peggy Sue" becomes "Sue, Peggy". "Mary Jane" becomes "Jane, Mary." Bands like Pink Floyd, Green Day, Led Zeppelin, etc., which were added to the database before the automated system was implemented, are formatted correctly. However, if someone were to try to add those names today, they would turn into "Floyd, Pink", "Day, Green", "Zeppelin, Led", etc. The problem gets even worse when you consider bands or groups with longer and more complex names. For example, if you look up the name "Benny Goodman and His Orchestra", which was added to the database before automation, it is formatted as "Goodman and His Orchestra, Benny". This makes sense, as Goodman is the last name of the bandleader, and the phrase "and his orchestra" refers to his band. However, if someone were to attempt to add this name to the database today, the system would automatically change it to "Orchestra, Benny Goodman and His". It would give the user no option to alter the formatting in any way. The user would have no choice but to submit it as if it was supposed to represent a man named Benny Orchestra who just happened to have three middle names for some reason. Have I hammered home this point enough, or do I need to keep listing more examples of how this system is failing?

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368 Messages

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8.3K Points

4 days ago

P.S. I have begrudgingly submitted the Peggy Sue correction (changing "Peggy Sue & the Pirates" to just "Peggy Sue"), despite being unable to prevent the system from converting it to "Sue, Peggy". #250929-052218-758000

Employee

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18.1K Messages

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320K Points

Hi majfoalbkeopaza - I can see that the name correction (from "Peggy Sue & the Pirates" to "Peggy Sue") is still pending review. As I understand, the band changed the name in 20028. Do you know if on the "Hidden Lives" episode for "Tourette's on the Job" the band was credited as "Peggy Sue" or "Peggy Sue & the Pirates"?

368 Messages

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8.3K Points

I don't have any first-hand knowledge of how the credits read on the TV episode, but IMDb shows that the episode aired in 2007, and all the sources I found on the internet re: the name change (that included a date) said that they changed their name in 2008. So I would assume that the TV credits would have shown their former name, "Peggy Sue & the Pirates".

Champion

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15.4K Messages

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341.2K Points

4 days ago

I agree that there are many cases where it would make sense if we could submit names of more than one word without a comma, in effect without a "last name". I don't think all your facts are correct: The forms do accept formatting such as "Goodman and His Orchestra, Benny". You just have to enter it yourself. If you enter a name without a comma, the name is automatically "fixed", and this has been the case for as long as I can remember. And I was around when IMDb started to allow bands to be added as names. So I don't think Pink Floyd and others were added before the automated system was implemented.

(edited)

368 Messages

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8.3K Points

Yeah, I probably should have checked a little more closely instead of rushing through the post the way I did. Clearly there are workarounds for some of the things I was complaining about. If there is a way to add names like "Pink Floyd" and "Peggy Sue" without commas, though, I am at a loss as to what it is. That was the main point of the post and I still don't see any solution.

Employee

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18.1K Messages

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320K Points

Hi majfoalbkeopaza - Currently, there is no option within the contribution interface to side-step the 'Last name, First name' formatting. For band names, the correction will need to be done manually by IMDb staff.