A library patron (phone reference) says that her first names are appearing where the first name should be, and vice versa. I asked if it is that way in the reference record in library view, or just when she exports her library. She says it’s in the record that way. She says that she exported the records from an EBSCO database, so I’m not sure what’s going on. Has anyone seen this before? What questions should I be asking to try to help troubleshoot?
It sounds like the “Name format” setting for her output style may have been altered so names are displayed in first-last name order as opposed to last-first. Have her check her output style’s “Author Name” (under Bibliography) [Go to the toolbar, select EDIT, OUTPUT STYLES, EDIT [name of style she’s using].
For names to appear in last- first-name order, the name format setting should match those in the attached image. The “Name format” setting supercedes the order that names may have been entered or imported into the EndNote library so it’s a nifty tool.
Thanks so much for the very clear image file and the excellent troubleshooting advice. I will send this on to the student; however, I am now suspecting that her issue is actually an EBSCO error.
I tried to recreate the problem, so I set some records to export.
Oddly enough, I did see one record that was just as the patron described, with first and last name positions switched. I tried re-importing the record from EBSCO so that I had two duplicate records. I noticed that the second record came in correctly and with more information than the first record. I compared the database names and the first record came from EBSCO’s E-journal service, while the second came from EBSCO’s Academic Search Complete. I went back to the E-journal database, and it had the authors in “straight” order (Ex: Adam Briggle, and Carl Matcham). The patron had said that most of her records were for the same author and journal, so it may be that the records were the problem.
I’m hoping the student will be able to identify which database she got the records from and let me see if that is the issue, or if it is indeed the Name format setting. It’s difficult when one is helping online or on the phone and can’t see the patron’s screen 
If I hear from the patron, I’ll let you know what it was.
Thanks for the update and information on the name switcheroo possibly originating from the E-journal service. However, it’s curious as EndNote is flexible in accommodating names so it doesn’t matter if a record has author names in firstname-lastname or lastname-firstname order. This is because EndNote’s “Name Format” option controls the actual order that author names will appear in ether the in-text citation or the bibliography.
Will be interested to know how things go so keep us posted and happy sleuthing. 