First Name or Full Name? What Goes on Staff Name Badges (Order Data)
Most organisations put first names only on staff name badges. Of 485 badges we engraved for 131 orders between January 2023 and October 2026, 69% showed a first name only and 31% a full name, an initial or a title. Counted by order, 55% of organisations chose first names only, and 37% added a job title or role to at least one badge.
of badges showed a first name only (334 of 485)
of organisations chose first names only for most of their badges (72 of 131 orders)
of orders put a job title or role on at least one badge (48 of 131)
of badge orders included a logo
badges in the median order; one in five orders was for 20 or more
of badge units were oak and 22% bamboo
How names appear on badges
Name format, share of 485 badges
Counted by order rather than by badge, the split is closer: 72 orders (55%) used mostly first names, 58 (44%) used mostly full names and one mixed the two. Larger teams leaned towards first names, which is why the badge-level figure is higher.
Whether a surname belongs on a badge is a privacy and safety decision as much as a design one. Our guide to whether staff name badges should show full names covers UK GDPR, staff safety and a policy you can adopt. For NHS, school, shop and hospitality staff a name badge is policy, not law; our reference on who must wear an ID badge by law in the UK lists the roles where visible ID is a legal requirement.
The shift towards first names
| Year ordered | Orders using mostly first names | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 and 2024 | 23 of 49 | 47% |
| 2025 | 29 of 45 | 64% |
| 2026 (to 29 October) | 20 of 36 | 56% |
First names became the more common choice from 2025. The yearly groups are small, so treat this as a direction rather than a precise rate.
What else goes on a badge
- A job title or role: on 26% of badges (128 of 485), and on at least one badge in 37% of orders.
- A logo: on half of all badge orders.
- A QR or NFC code: 12% of badge units. See where businesses point their QR codes for what those codes link to.
- A lanyard rather than a pin or magnet: 20% of badge units.
- A wipeable blackboard area for writing a name on the day: 5% of badge units, designed for events where delegates write their own names.
How many badges organisations order
| Badges in the order | Share of orders |
|---|---|
| 1 | 19% |
| 2 to 9 | 47% |
| 10 to 19 | 14% |
| 20 to 49 | 13% |
| 50 to 99 | 5% |
| 100 or more | 2% |
The median order was five badges and the mean 14. Most orders are for a small team or a top-up for new starters, with a long tail of large orders. One in five orders had 20 or more badges; our bulk discount starts at 20 of the same product.
Three practical points
- First names only is the common choice, not a lesser one. Most organisations in our data picked it, and it's the safer default for customer-facing staff.
- A role line earns its place where customers need to find the right person: reception, duty managers, first aiders, volunteers. More than a third of orders used one.
- Decide the format once and write it down, so new starters' badges match. Reorders are easiest when you quote the original order number; see how to order wooden name badges.
How we collected the data
We went through every order in our shop's records from 1 January 2023 to 29 October 2026 and picked out wooden name badge lines. For the name-format figures we used the badges where the wording could be read reliably: single badges with the name on the first line, and simple one-name-per-line lists. That gave 485 badges from 131 orders. Bulk orders sent as a spreadsheet or an emailed list aren't included in the name figures.
We classified each name by its pattern: one word (first name only), two or more words (first name and surname), a single letter after the name (initial), or Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr and similar (title). Job titles were picked up from words such as manager, chef, volunteer and reception on the lines below the name.
We excluded cancelled and test orders, and one customer who orders badges one at a time, whose orders would otherwise have dominated the sample. The order-size and material figures use all badge orders in the period, excluding that customer.
Limits: this is one maker's customers, mostly small UK businesses, schools, charities and event organisers. It isn't a random sample, pattern-matching makes some errors, and the yearly groups are small. We publish only aggregated counts, never a name or an organisation.
How to cite it
You're welcome to quote these figures or redraw the charts. Please credit Cherry Grove Craft and link to this page:
Cherry Grove Craft (2026). First name or full name? What goes on staff name badges: order data, January 2023 to October 2026. https://cherrygrovecraft.co.uk/pages/what-businesses-put-on-name-badges
Licence: you're free to reuse this data, including commercially, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY 4.0), as long as you credit Cherry Grove Craft and link to this page.
For when organisations order badges through the year, see our seasonality data, and for the same kind of order data on signs, what UK businesses put on their signs.
Frequently asked questions
Do most businesses put first names or full names on staff badges?
First names. In our order data, 69% of badges showed a first name only, and 55% of organisations used mostly first names. Full names were more common among smaller orders.
How many organisations add a job title to name badges?
37% of the orders we analysed put a job title or role on at least one badge, and 26% of individual badges carried one.
How many name badges does a typical organisation order?
The median order was five badges and the mean 14. One in five orders was for 20 or more, and 2% were for 100 or more.
Should staff name badges show surnames?
Only where there's a clear reason, such as a regulated role or a setting where staff must be identifiable by full name. A name is personal data, and first names alone are the safer default for customer-facing staff. Our guide to full names on badges covers UK GDPR and staff safety.