Why does Apple's Address Book/MobileMe keep renaming my Dad?

Have you tried putting a space in the last name field?

Also, you could put his first & last name where they go and add “dad” in the nickname field as an alternative.

I tried using a nickname at some point, but I didn’t like the fact that when you use the nickname in mail to add his address, it switches to his full name and when receiving calls on the iphone, it used the full name, too.

I think I did try a space at some point, but not entirely sure. I’ll try it again and see if it works. What’s odd about that is that most of my contacts don’t have last names and don’t need a space to keep it that way, it’s only my Dad’s contact which is unhappy.

Try deleting the contact card, syncing so that it’s gone from all the devices (check each device to make sure it’s gone before the next step), and then re-create it from scratch. It may be an issue with that record number.

If all else fails, call him Dad Dums.

Or Dad Deeyo

Perhaps Dad Diddles.

That’s nothing, my Address Book kept renaming my wife “Taargüs Taargüs.”

A space in the last name field seems to have sorted it (for now at least). If it messes up again, I’ll try deleting and re-creating it as you suggested, richardhenry.