Why all caps first and last names in id cards / passports?
<p>I am wondernig what is the reason, if any, that in the national identification cards the <strong>names</strong> (first and last) are written in <strong>ALL CAPS</strong>?</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6viLI.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/6viLI.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GaU8A.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GaU8A.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Some jurisdictions do that.  Others don't (see, for example, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_identity_card" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Dutch national identity card</a>).</p>

<p>My New York driver's license is in all caps, and I rather suspect that it's a holdover from the days in which licenses were processed using a computer system that had only upper-case characters.</p>

<p>But that's just a guess.  The real answer is that the premise of the question is incorrect.</p>

<p>The League of Nations Passport Conference of 1926 contained <strong>suggestions</strong> on how christan and surnames should be written:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Annex</strong><br />
<em>Various Entries.</em>.<br />
The question of the entries to be made on the passport form has given rise to the following observations:</p>
<ol>
<li>Sufficient space should be provided for the full name of the holder;</li>
<li>Christian names and surnames should be written either in block capitals or in what is known as English roundhand;</li>
<li>The surname should be underlined.</li>
</ol>
<p>It is agreed that christian names need not be translated.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>United States Passports that I have seen, never underlined the surnames. Other countries often did. Sometimes spaces between the letters of the surname were used instead of underlining.</p>
<p>With the introduction of typewritten passports, in the United States since 1931-01-02, all entries were mostly uppercase.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vt5jl.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/vt5jl.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: The typed letters are red. A passport issued in September 1931 (and later) are black.</p>
<p>A 1934 passport of Moritz Feibusch, which was retrieved from the ruins of the Hindenburg, can be seen here:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/magnesmuseum/albums/72157624208880791" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Moritz Feibusch and the Hindenburg</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><strong>Sources</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://books.google.co.ao/books/download/The_United_States_passport.pdf?id=YtaPAAAAMAAJ&amp;hl=pt-PT&amp;output=pdf&amp;sig=ACfU3U3f5VW9pf3K-1ABSexqG5UeyeNt8Q" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The United States passport: past, present, future, Issue 153 by United States. Passport Office. 1976</a> (PDF)</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
<p>In the national identification cards the names (first and last) are written in ALL CAPS</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That's incorrect, another example is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_identity_card" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Thai identity cards</a>, which don't use all caps.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/A2KuI.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/A2KuI.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.suchanannakmai.com%2F&amp;psig=AOvVaw3KVF06KgxNhcZg2eSlabyL&amp;ust=1592941864938000&amp;source=images&amp;cd=vfe&amp;ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCOi88IeZluoCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD" rel="nofollow noreferrer">image source</a>)</p>

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