Awesome links about conventions of personal naming in different cultures
Thai Personal Names
The article itself is mostly about Thai culture, but there is a comments thread with people giving examples of a variety of other cultures as well.
In addition to the kinds of names people have (given vs family name doesn't BEGIN to cover it, of course), there's also a bit of discussion of how rigid the name selection process is, from countries/cultures which heavily restrict changes and require names to be picked from an official list to ones in which it's conventionally accepted that you can just announce your new name, start using it, and people will go along without giving it much thought.
The article itself is mostly about Thai culture, but there is a comments thread with people giving examples of a variety of other cultures as well.
In addition to the kinds of names people have (given vs family name doesn't BEGIN to cover it, of course), there's also a bit of discussion of how rigid the name selection process is, from countries/cultures which heavily restrict changes and require names to be picked from an official list to ones in which it's conventionally accepted that you can just announce your new name, start using it, and people will go along without giving it much thought.