w3c / w3c/json-ld-syntax

Handling JSON-LD with duplicate names

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Editorial ErratumRaised
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Description

I was recently reading this blog post: https://alexwlchan.net/2025/duplicate-names-in-json/ which states that the JSON syntax does not require that name strings should be unique. However, these semantics may be considered in further specifications about the use of JSON in data exchanges.

In the JSON-LD specs as far as I know little is said about the handing of duplicate names:

Can the editor clarify how duplicated names should be handled?

{
  "@context": "http://schema.org/",
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Jane Doe",
  "jobTitle": "Professor",
  "jobTitle": "Dean",
  "url": "http://www.janedoe.com"
}

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with section 4.1 of the JSON-LD specification and the linked discussion of duplicate JSON names. Review how the duplicate jobTitle example should be interpreted, then clarify the specification's handling of duplicate names; done means the relevant specification text explicitly documents the behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
json
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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