freemarker for user's first name / last name

Even without direct access through the freemarker custom context user object, there's a vast amount of information that can be unlocked via the REST API using the rest or restadmin context objects. Details here:

http://lithosphere.lithium.com/t5/developers-knowledge-base/Context-objects-for-custom-components-rest/ta-p/9333

Here's a crude example of getting the user's first and last name, and displaying the result: 

<#assign nameFirst = rest("/users/id/${user.id?c}/settings/name/profile.name_first").value />
<#assign nameLast = rest("/users/id/${user.id?c}/settings/name/profile.name_last").value />

Welcome ${nameFirst!""} ${nameLast!""}

 I hope this helps!