Can I use alternateName more than once?

Question

For structured data, can alternateName be used more than once on a single thing?

Answer 1

Yes, every property can be used multiple times.

You could even provide multiple name properties, but it might make sense to use one name property (for the canonical/official name) and one or more alternateName properties for all other names.

Examples: Person with several name, Product with several color, Offer with several priceSpecification, item with several additionalType.

Answer 2

Even though the Schema.org documentation allows to use alternateName property multiple times, using an array, such as

"alternateName": [
    "name variation 1",
    "name variation 2",
    "name variation 3"
    ]

But in reality, Google does not take more than one variation, and reports an error in Google Rich Results testing tool.

It is better to use "name" property for a canonical, or official name, then use "alternateName" for an alternate name, such as a common misspell or a shorter version of the official name. On top of that, you can use "legalName" for an officially registered name of an organization.