‘Shiv Jha-Mathur’: Demystifying The Hyphen

Hello. My legal name is Shiv Jha Mathur:

Shiv (given name) Jha Mathur (family name)

In other words, I have a two-part last name and a solitary first name. I do not have a middle name or two first names. Outside of legal documents, I usually abbreviate it to Shiv J.M. or add a hyphen to indicate that Jha and Mathur must be kept together, making it Shiv Jha-Mathur:

Shiv (given name) Jha-Mathur (family name)

Having encountered many different corruptions of it over the years, I should emphasize that my name is not:

• M. Shiv Jha
• Mathur Shivjha
• Mathur, Shiv Jha
• Mr. Jha
• Mr. Mathur
• Shiv J. Mathur
• Shiv Jha
• Shiv Jha M.
• Shiv M.
• Shiv Mathur
• Shivjha