1

a fully paid ticket on the applicant’s name will be required

a driving licence in the name of William Sanders

I think these two phrasings (on the someone's name and in the name of someone) mean identical things. Am I making sense or Dose they have any difference?

James K
  • 217,650
  • 16
  • 258
  • 452
Young
  • 575
  • 3
  • 8
  • 23
  • & this is my question, when do we use the structure "In the name of _____"? Is this just for people known as "the Great" or GOD? – a.RR Aug 14 '18 at 16:24
  • @AmirhoseinRiazi "in the name of" isn't just for people. See: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/in+the+name+of 1. By the authority of: Open up in the name of the law! 2. For the reason of; using as a reason: grisly experiments performed in the name of science. – ColleenV Aug 14 '18 at 16:36
  • @Young: My edit assumes that the specific issue being asked about here is using the Saxon Genitive (X's Y) as opposed to a preposition (Y of X), and that the matter of *on/in [some name]* was just accidental mistranscription caused by the fact that you're writing in what to you is a somewhat confusing foreign language. If I'm wrong about that please either reply to this comment or "revert" the edit yourself (if you know how! :) – FumbleFingers Aug 14 '18 at 16:51
  • Related: The name of the boy vs.The boy's name – ColleenV Aug 14 '18 at 16:59
  • @FumbleFingers Thank you for attention, but my question here is actually about the usage between on some name and in the name of someone and for more detailed explanation, I have put in the comment for the answer of James. – Young Aug 14 '18 at 17:06
  • Hi Young - you should [edit] your question to add these details (where you found the sentences for example) instead of posting them in comments. There is some good advice in the Details, please thread on [meta]. – ColleenV Aug 14 '18 at 17:11
  • I've rolled back the question so it refers to both in and on (based on a comment above). I encourage the OP to [edit] their question to incorporate details that may be hidden in comments. – James K Aug 14 '18 at 17:20
  • @ ColleenV Yeah, I will amend my question for a better quality. Thanks for letting me know – Young Aug 14 '18 at 17:33

2 Answers2

1

"A ticket in the name of Sanders" is correct, but not "a ticket on the name of Sanders". The same reasoning also applies to driver's licences.

You may be confusing the correct form "the name on the ticket".

There is also the expression "He lived under the name of Sanders", which means "Sanders was the (fake?) name that he used". This was parodied in Winnie-the-Pooh.

James K
  • 217,650
  • 16
  • 258
  • 452
0

Yes, it makes no difference whether you say:

in the person's name

or

in the name of the person.

However, I will make two minor corrections, one of which may have just been a typo. First, in English, someone may purchase a ticket on the passenger's behalf, but the ticket must be in the passenger's name.

Second, It is unlikely (but not impossible) that you would have a fully paid ticket for an applicant. It is more likely that you would have a fully paid ticket for a passenger (eg when travelling on a plane or ship or possibly other forms of transport), or a customer (eg when attending the theatre, cinema, or a convention).

James
  • 6,529
  • 1
  • 10
  • 22
  • Sorry about the confusion, but the typo you pointed out is actually a written sentence on a website. And its context is a visa application requirement ,so I as far as I can tell the sentence 'a fully paid ticket in the applicant’s name will be required' means that I need a ticket in my name and question is regarding the usage between the on ... name and in the name of. – Young Aug 14 '18 at 16:53
  • 1
    @Young Thank you for the additional information. My apologies, this would certainly be one of the situations where 'a ticket in the name of the applicant' would be correct. It is also one of the reasons that you will often see comments in ELL asking the OP to provide additional information; the context in which something is written will often affect the answer that will be given. Regarding your main question, my answer still remains, whether you say 'in ... name' or 'in the name of...' you should use 'in' not 'on'. – James Aug 15 '18 at 08:24
  • @Young A check on Ngram to see the frequency of use of the two phrases 'on the applicant's name' and 'in the applicant's name', does not show any hits for the former, indicating that this is a very uncommon phrase. Ngram – James Aug 15 '18 at 08:29