List of standard lengths for database fields

Question

I\'m designing a database table and once again asking myself the same stupid question: How long should the firstname field be?

Does anyone have a li

Answer 1

UK Government Data Standards Catalogue details the UK standards for this kind of thing. It suggests 35 characters for each of Given Name and Family Name, or 70 characters for a single field to hold the Full Name, and 255 characters for an email address. Amongst other things..