Before we use 'Rakuten 2' Payment form in Japan which includes the nickname field, we would need to solve for this in Civi to avoid confusion. @Fr-Tech, could this be managed for February Japan campaigns in 2223?

After chatting with Sandra, having the values added to nickname field wouldn't necessarily cause any issues, but if the data is to be used, there should be a way to connect the names in advanced search so that it is searchable and have Civi save the alternate name during a merge to retain the data, perhaps to the nickname field as well.

Adding below some suggestions from @SHust:

• Solution #1 --> Find out if there’s a way to have the ‘name and nickname’ field connected to work in the advanced search to allow for JP and/or IL donors as examples, to come independently of the character used if the data was previously merged
• Solution #2 --> Add what you have mentioned, an actual ‘alternative name’ field but make sure it is connected to the name search so it generates results
• Additionally --> Have civi automatically save both names when a merge happens to have names in different characters (as it does when a donor has several mailing addresses), to assure we don’t lose this important data and can find a donor record should they use a different character format from a previous donation when they donate in the near future.

@XenoRyet I spoke with @SHust about this - let's chat about timing

FYI Moved to Sprint +2 based on upcoming Japan campaigns. Probably worth reviewing other Japanese-form specific issues - let us know @EMartin if there's anything else urgent/pressing on this list.

https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/board/5230/