ORDER_STATUS_NOTIFICATION

-- url of the page with the problem -- : http:www.eutopiantrader.com
-- HikaShop version -- : 3.1.1
-- Joomla version -- : 3.7.5
-- PHP version -- : 7.0.22
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : Chrome 60.0.3112.113
-- Error-message(debug-mod must be tuned on) -- : n/a

My​ question was in the ORDER_STATUS_NOTIFICATION what does the code $customer_name = @$customer->name;​ ​actually do? Meaning what is the function of the ->name after the variable? What I am trying to understand is how to modify the preload.php properly in order to have the email status notifications display only the users first name, where currently is is displaying first and last name. There is no constant to change for this as I can tell due to the way the variables are set in the preload.php. (however, I am still testing, ​and ​I may fix the problem, but I would still like to understand the code and what that line is doing​)​.