Biblatex: first names in text only for some sources - why?

Question

I have a rather complex document using the biblatex style apa. For some sources that I cite first names appear (which I don't want, according to the APA guidelines), such as in:

\autocite{windttheoryconsciousness}

which yields

(Jennifer M. Windt & Noreika, 2011)

However

\autocite{stumbrysinductionreview}

yields

(Stumbrys, Erlacher, Schädlich, & Schredl, 2012)

These are the entries in the .bib file:

@article{windttheoryconsciousness,
title={How to integrate dreaming into a general theory of consciousness—a critical review of existing positions and suggestions for future research},
author={Jennifer M. Windt and Valdas Noreika},
journal={Consciousness and cognition},
volume={20},
number={4},
pages={1091--1107},
year=2011,
publisher={Elsevier}
}

@article{stumbrysinductionreview,
title={Induction of lucid dreams: A systematic review of evidence},
author={Tadas Stumbrys and Daniel Erlacher and Melanie Sch{\"a}dlich and Michael Schredl},
journal={Consciousness and Cognition},
volume={21},
number={3},
pages={1456--1475},
year=2012,
publisher={Elsevier}
}

I tried a minimal example, but I could not reproduce the problem (which was that first names sometimes appear and sometimes not). Therefore I can phrase my question only vaguely: What could be the difference between these sources? I noticed that sometimes the year tag was in curly brackets, but I removed them and recompiled -- still the same result in the complex document. Also, for some sources in the bib file I noticed that authors were separated by commas instead of and. Changed that and recompiled -- still the same. Both of these sources appeared for the first time in the document.

I'd appreciate any guide in solving this problem.

You need to enter names in the .bib file as Surname, FirstName(s). The problem lies in "Jennifer M. Windt" which is treated as a multiword last name. — Alan Munn, Jul 28 '16 at 22:28
You have an other source where the author has the same surname (Windt) with another first name. — Paul Gaborit, Jul 28 '16 at 22:45
See also biblatex, authoryear style: In-text citations display first name initials for certain bibliography entries, Literature with Biber generates strange citations: firstnames appear erratically. (Technically, the first could even be a duplicate.) — moewe, Jul 29 '16 at 07:52
BTW: I believe that name disambiguation is part of APA style. Though I seem to remember there were some changes to that recently in biblatex-apa (not sure if the version with these changes has already been released). — moewe, Jul 29 '16 at 07:56

Paul Gaborit · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-28T23:12:30.047

If two different authors have the same surname, biblatex adds the first name to identify each of them. (You may add the uniquename=false option to change this behavior.)

Ex:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@article{windttheoryconsciousness,
title={How to integrate dreaming into a general theory of consciousness—a critical review of existing positions and suggestions for future research},
author={Jennifer M. Windt and Valdas Noreika},
journal={Consciousness and cognition},
volume={20},
number={4},
pages={1091--1107},
year=2011,
publisher={Elsevier}
}

@article{windttheoryconsciousness2,
title={How to integrate dreaming into a general theory of consciousness—a critical review of existing positions and suggestions for future research},
author={Alex Windt and Valdas Noreika},
journal={Consciousness and cognition},
volume={20},
number={4},
pages={1091--1107},
year=2011,
publisher={Elsevier}
}

@article{stumbrysinductionreview,
title={Induction of lucid dreams: A systematic review of evidence},
author={Tadas Stumbrys and Daniel Erlacher and Melanie Sch{\"a}dlich and Michael Schredl},
journal={Consciousness and Cognition},
volume={21},
number={3},
pages={1456--1475},
year=2012,
publisher={Elsevier}
}
\end{filecontents*}

\usepackage[american]{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[style=apa,backend=biber]{biblatex}
\DeclareLanguageMapping{american}{american-apa}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\begin{document}
\autocite{windttheoryconsciousness}
\autocite{windttheoryconsciousness2}
\autocite{stumbrysinductionreview}

\printbibliography
\end{document}

Biblatex: first names in text only for some sources - why?

1 Answers1

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