A List of Character Name Equivalents

The names by which characters are known vary from source to source. This is especially true of diacritical marks, modified letters, and symbols. Below is a list of synonyms for some characters used in MARC21 that have been known by various names. Most of the names included come from three sources: Unicode, Z39.47 (ANSEL), and MARC21 documentation. Unicode names tend to be long and ungainly, so shortened forms are given here.

The characters are divided in two categories here. Table 1 includes combining diacritics that always modify another letter and share its space when printed. Table 2 lists special characters that are independent of other characters and occupy their own space in a printed line.

Table 1. Combining diacritics

Unicode name Other names Comments and usage notes Ring above Circle above, Angstrom Diaeresis Umlaut Dot above Superior dot Caron Hacek Hook above Pseudo question, low rising tone Comma above High comma centered For Latvian g, use precomposed form ‘with cedilla’. Comma may appear inverted in source document Comma above right High comma off center Do not use. Use precomposed forms ‘with caron’. Ligature [halves Ligature [halves This must be stored in decomposed form, for example, encoded separately] encoded separately] T ligature left half S ligature right half. Double tilde [halves Double tilde [halves This must be stored in decomposed form, for example, encoded separately] encoded separately] n double tilde left half g double tilde right half. Ogonek Right hook Left half ring below Right cedilla Use only for romanized Thai. Comma below Left hook, Use this routinely only for Romanian S and T. For all comma below other cases, prefer precomposed forms ‘with cedilla’ even if the comma does not appear to touch the letter. Low line Underscore This entry refers only to a line under a letter, not to the spacing underscore used in e-mail addresses, etc. Double low line Double underscore Ring below Circle below Diaeresis below Double dot below Breve below Upadhmaniya, half circle below

July 1, 2002 Harvard University Library Office for Information Systems page 1 of 2 Table 2. Special characters that occupy their own space.

Unicode name Other names Comments and usage notes Modifier letter right Alif, aleph half ring Modifier letter turned Ayn, ayin comma Modifier letter prime Soft sign, miagkii znak Modifier letter double Hard sign, tverdii znak prime Middle dot Centered dot, dot in middle of line Vertical line Vertical bar, fill character O with horn O-hook, hook O U with horn U-hook, hook U D with stroke D with crossbar, slash D L with stroke L with crossbar, Polish L, slash L O with stroke O with crossbar, Scandinavian O Slash O Letter Æ Digraph AE, ligature AE

July 1, 2002 Harvard University Library Office for Information Systems page 2 of 2