Amongst the several dilemmas recently emerging with regard to extracorporeal embryos, the one referring to conditions for allowing research with or on them stands out. The issue is still couched in terms of which attributes are necessary - or at what stage in time - personhood can be conferred on the embryo. Focusing on current debate, international recommendations, and pertinent legislation, the article examines the underlying representations of personhood. The central argument is that the lack of consensus over what it means to be a person (and which qualities instate this condition) in a human being is offset by the insistence on identifying Person - in this case, the embryo - as an Individual. The article further suggests that the review of these documents allows one to display the tensions and paradoxes pervading our central category of Individual.