Person name data standard [PDF 338 KB]
The purpose of this standard is to mandate the 'NZ Government OASIS CIQ Name Profile' to be used to format and exchange person name.
This mandated standard applies to data being shared between organisations.
NZ Government OASIS CIQ Name Profile
Person name is the name of a natural person. Person name generally consist of a Family Name (Surname) and one or more Given Names. It can include other name elements such as Title or Suffix.
This standard applies to all person name types. There are two main name types which a person can use when interacting with organisations: 'official name' and 'known as'.
‘Official name’ refers to a name that can be verified against New Zealand Government approved authoritative data sources, such as birth, citizenship, passports, and immigration records and the documents associated with them.
‘Known as’ refers to all other names that people are entitled to use through marriage/civil union, common use, or preference.
The 'NZ Government OASIS CIQ Name Profile' contains three compliant formats for Given Name.
The preferred format for compliance with this standard is a Family Name field and a separate field for each Given Name. For example, if a person has a family name of Smith and 3 given names - Te Aroha Mary Anne - then the family name field will contain Smith, the first given name field will contain Te Aroha, the second given name field will contain Mary, and the third given name field will contain Anne.
The second compliant format is a Family Name field and a single field containing all Given Names. Note, this format may only be suitable for matching names of people across organisations. For example, if a person has a family name of Smith and 3 given names - Te Aroha Mary Anne - then the family name field will contain Smith, and the given names field will contain Te Aroha Mary Anne.
The third and least preferred compliant format is a Family Name field and two or more Given Name fields. For example, if a person has a family name of Smith and 3 given names - Te Aroha Mary Anne - then the family name field will contain Smith, the first given name field will contain Te Aroha, and the other given names field will contain Mary Anne.
There is no preference in order between Family Name field and Given Name field(s).
Where a person only has a single name, it should be recorded as a Family Name.
While this mandated standard outlines the minimum compliant format, it is also compliant if you wish to provide more information with your data such as ‘Title’ or ‘Suffix’. Where other name elements are shared, these should be recorded in separate fields.
For further details on composite names and other details please see the full 'NZ Government OASIS CIQ Name Profile'.
NZ Government OASIS CIQ Name Profile
Document ID: DCS-001-00
Document version: 1.0
Approval date: 12/12/2019
Effective date: 02/04/2020
Review date: 02/04/2021
This document was created by a cross public sector working group which was led by the Department of Internal Affairs. For more information please contact MandatedStandards@stats.govt.nz.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. In essence, you are free to copy, distribute and adapt the work, as long as you attribute the work to the Crown and abide by the other licence terms.
To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
If you’d like more information, have a question, or want to provide feedback, email MandatedStandards@stats.govt.nz.
Content last reviewed 14 February 2022.