I very much prefer SURNAME Firstname, regardless of any official way, since the "official" way varies from composer to composer.
In english, an equivalent would be "Robert John". Both are common first names and last names, and it's strange to see it, but since there's only one way to order a name, it's easy to figure out which name is the surname and which is the first name.
There should be no "special cases" and with a capitalized surname, there is no doubt about the proper form. As a westerner, I have a very hard time figuring out whether or not a name is in firstname/lastname or lastname/firstname format. Yamada Taro and Taro Yamada both sound like first names OR surnames, so either could be correct.this might be a good read wrote:
It recommended using capitalization (YAMADA Taro) or commas (Yamada, Taro) to clarify which part of the personal name is the family name and which part is the given name
In english, an equivalent would be "Robert John". Both are common first names and last names, and it's strange to see it, but since there's only one way to order a name, it's easy to figure out which name is the surname and which is the first name.