Overview
This setting controls the order in which _Student_ and _Teacher_ full names are shown throughout Classter: either “Surname Name” (Last Name first) or “Name Surname” (First Name first). It also determines the order used when lists of _Students_ and _Teachers_ are sorted alphabetically.
Because full names appear in dozens of screens across the system – lists, cards, dropdowns, gradebooks, timetables, financial screens, and more – this single setting lets an institution apply one consistent naming convention everywhere at once, without configuring each screen individually.
Setting location: Configuration > Application Settings > Basic Customization (category) > Views & Forms (group) – Xrisi_Prota_Tou_Epithetou_Sto_Plires_Onoma.
What This Setting Does
This is a simple on/off switch that changes how a full name is put together for display, and it comes with one behavior for each state:
- Enabled – Classter displays every _Student_’s and _Teacher_’s full name as “Surname Name” (for example, “Papadopoulos Maria” instead of “Maria Papadopoulos”).
- Disabled (default) – Classter displays every _Student_’s and _Teacher_’s full name as “Name Surname” (for example, “Maria Papadopoulos”).
The same choice also governs how _Student_ and _Teacher_ lists are sorted alphabetically: when enabled, lists are ordered by Surname first and then by Name; when disabled, lists are ordered by Name first and then by Surname. This keeps what is displayed and how it is sorted aligned with each other, so an alphabetically ordered list always matches the order the names are read in.
Main Settings / General Settings / Basic Customization / Views & Forms / List full names as “Surname Name”
Here you define the formatting of the full name,whether it will be first the surname and then the name or will be first the name and then the surname.
Setting -> Active
Last Name + First Name (Figure 1)
Figure 1
Setting -> Inactive
First Name + Last Name (Figure 2)
Figure 2
Where It Is Used
This setting is applied wherever a _Student_’s or _Teacher_’s full name is shown or listed across Classter, including:
- _Student_ lists, cards, and profile screens, including registration, transfer, and re-registration lists
- _Teacher_ lists, cards, and profile screens, including _Teacher_ booking and classroom/timetable booking screens
- _Group_ (Class) enrollment lists and course-registration screens
- Gradebook, academic progress, and examination result screens
- Financial arrangement and installment screens wherever a _Student_’s name is shown
- Transportation (bus route) booking screens
- Alumni / former classmates lists
- Administrative staff dropdowns (for example, when selecting an Administrator or Secretary), which follow the same naming convention for consistency
The setting is read live whenever one of these screens loads, so any change takes effect immediately: the next time a user opens an affected screen, names appear in the newly selected order. No logout, cache clear, or scheduled refresh is required.
Business Logic / Behavior
The following behavior can be confirmed directly from the setting’s design:
- Default behavior: if the setting has never been changed, it is disabled, and Classter shows the “Name Surname” order.
- Enabling the setting reverses the order to “Surname Name” consistently across every screen listed in Where It Is Used.
- The setting affects sorting as well as display: enabled lists are sorted by Surname then Name; disabled lists are sorted by Name then Surname.
- The change applies institution-wide: it is not possible to show one order to some users and a different order to others, or to apply it only to some screens – the whole institution uses one consistent order for both _Students_ and _Teachers_.
- The setting only changes the word order used for display and sorting; it does not add, remove, abbreviate, or otherwise reformat any part of a person’s name.
Example(s)
Example 1 – Disabled (default): Name Surname
Riverside Institute keeps this setting at its default value (disabled). A _Student_ with First Name “Maria” and Last Name “P.” is enrolled in the system. Wherever her name appears – the _Student_ list, her _Group_’s course roster, her gradebook entries, or a bus route booking – it is shown as “Maria P.”. In the _Student_ list, she is sorted alphabetically by first name, appearing between students such as “Mark S.” and “Nicholas T.”.
Example 2 – Enabled: Surname Name
Highland College enables this setting because its official records and printed reports have always listed people by surname first. The same student, previously shown as “Maria P.”, now appears everywhere in Classter as “P. Maria”. The _Student_ list is also re-sorted: it is now ordered alphabetically by surname, so “P. Maria” is grouped together with other surnames starting with “P”, instead of with other first names starting with “M”.
When to Use
When to Enable
- The institution’s official documents, registries, or printed reports already list people as “Surname Name”, and staff want Classter to match that convention.
- Administrative or clerical staff are used to searching and scanning lists by surname rather than by first name.
- The institution wants an alphabetical _Student_ or _Teacher_ directory organized by family name, similar to a formal register.
When to Disable (default)
- The institution and its users are more familiar with the informal “Name Surname” convention.
- Staff, _Teachers_, or families are used to searching for a person by their first name.
- There is no specific requirement to group _Students_ or _Teachers_ alphabetically by surname.
Notes
K-12 versus Higher Education Mode: This setting behaves identically whether the institution is running in K-12 mode or in Higher Education mode (controlled by the Higher Education customization setting). Enabling or disabling it produces the same “Surname Name” / “Name Surname” display and sorting behavior in both modes, for both _Students_ and _Teachers_.
The only difference a user may notice between the two modes is terminology, not behavior: depending on how the institution has configured its terminology, “_Teacher_” may instead read as “Instructor” or “Faculty” in Higher Education configurations. This is a labeling preference only and does not change how this setting works.
Prerequisites: This setting does not require any other setting or field to be configured first. It can be turned on or off independently at any time, and it takes effect immediately for the names it applies to.
Setting location: Configuration > Application Settings > Basic Customization (category) > Views & Forms (group) – Xrisi_Prota_Tou_Epithetou_Sto_Plires_Onoma.
