What's in a name? Entering your name on official documents

TL/DR: In the US, unless there are clear "last"/"family", "first", and "middle" name sections on your passport, everything but your last/family name is now your first name.

You may think writing your name is a skill you mastered when you were five, but when moving to a foreign country, figuring out what your "official" name is can be a real problem, not to mention one that could get you into serious trouble, like getting turned away at the airport!

For example, in countries where it's common to have both anglo and dialect names, someone's name could look like this:
First name: Blain
Last name: Zhen
Dialect name: Mei Li

This is what that name may look like on a passport from their country of origin:

Zhen Mei Li Blain

Totally intuitive to someone from their country, but unintelligible to an American customs officer!

When figuring out what to write down on official US government documents, such as the I20, I-9, and visa applications, unless there are clear "last"/"family", "first", and "middle" name sections on your passport, this is what has worked:

Everything but your last/family name is now your first name:

Official first name: Meiliblain
Official last name: Zhen

Yes, it looks terrible, how they've butchered your beautiful name like that, but this will save you a lot of trouble explaining why the name on your I-9 doesn't match the name on your passport.

Schools are usually more lenient about what you put on your school documents. As a result, I have about five different names, depending on context:

Official US government documents (DMV, SSN, F1, I-20...): Meiliblain Zhen
University ID (and what my friends call me): Blain Zhen
Name on passport from country of origin: Zhen Mei Li Blain
When I publish (to distinguish myself from all the other Blain Zhens): Blain M. Zhen
What my grandparents call me: Mei Li

And people wonder why I have an identity crisis...