0

I am creating an system where users need to remember their user IDs (or at least most of it) and it should be based on a format that even if the user doesn't know or remember their ID it can be derived from personal and demographic information by someone else. A simple example I have come up with is

<First Initial><Last Initial><# of Letters in first name><birth month MM><year of birth YY>

FT70485

Obviously these wont be strictly unique and would be appended with a counter but the system would be searchable. Is there a better way of achieving a similar outcome?

frazras
  • 5,928
  • 4
  • 30
  • 40
  • Why exactly are you creating user ID's like this? If you want something user-friendly, why not go for 'YourName' as ID? In other words, what are you trying to achieve with this format? – Sanchises Jun 18 '14 at 12:51
  • I am trying to get as close to unique as possible – frazras Jun 18 '14 at 12:58
  • Think of it in terms of 'possibilities'. Initials of names are most commonly 10-15 letters of the alphabet (i.e., barely any X's, Y's, etc), so just an initial doesn't add a lot. You could try: all initals and pad with the last name until you reach a fixed length, and a checksum (a simple checksum would be to sum all the 'letters in the lastname (i.e., a=1, z=26) mod 100 to get a checksum between 00 and 99). The checksum will also prevent ID faking/guessing. Example: JHNDOE28 for J.H.N. Doe. – Sanchises Jun 18 '14 at 13:04
  • How is this question related to guid/uuids? – Mahonri Moriancumer Apr 11 '16 at 19:46

0 Answers0