Person (name)—family name, text X[X(39)]

Guide for use:

A person’s family name is one of the following:

• The hereditary or tribal surname of a person’s family.
• Acquired by a person in accordance with a due process defined in a State or Territory Act relating to the registration of births, deaths, marriages and changes of name and sex, and for related purposes, such as the ACT Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration.
• Any other name distinguished from a person given name.

The agency or establishment should record the person's full family name on their information systems.

Origin:
Standards Australia 2006. AS 4590—2006 Interchange of client information. Sydney: Standards Australia.

Comments:

Often people use a variety of names, including legal names, married/maiden names, nicknames, assumed names, traditional names, etc. Even small differences in recording - such as the difference between MacIntosh and McIntosh - can make record linkage impossible. To minimise discrepancies in the recording and reporting of name information, agencies or establishments should ask the person for their full (formal) 'Given name' and 'Family name'. These may be different from the name that the person may prefer the agency or establishment workers to use in personal dealings. Agencies or establishments may choose to separately record the preferred names that the person wishes to be used by agency or establishment workers. In some cultures it is traditional to state the family name first. To overcome discrepancies in recording/reporting that may arise as a result of this practice, agencies or establishments should always ask the person to specify their first given name and their family name or surname separately. These should then be recorded as 'Given name' and 'Family name' as appropriate, regardless of the order in which they may be traditionally given.