Adding support for given names

[WestpacOpenBanking]

Description

We note that in some cases a person’s first and middle names may sometimes be captured and stored within a single field in IT systems typically as “first names” or “given names”. An common example is the Australian passport application form which currently captures only family name and given names. Currently the CommonPerson schema specifies the firstName as optional and the middleName as mandatory, however to be able to accurately cater for the scenario above we propose that the standards allow for the provision of Given Name/s (a list of all the customer’s first and middle names) in these circumstances.

Area Affected

The CommonPerson object definition which is provided as part of Get Customer and Get Customer Detail API responses.

Change Proposed

We recommend adding a ‘Given Name/s’ list to the CommonPerson object definition.

[CDR-API-Stream]

Please note, Westpac have indicated to the DSB they would like to include this issue in the next standards-maintenance iteration. Priority will be discussed with community members on the commencement of Iteration 8.

[CDR-API-Stream]

Thanks @WestpacOpenBanking, first name and middle names are substitutes for given names. You can provide one "given name" in the firstName field and all remaining given names in the middleNames array.

• In the instance where all given names are held by the data holder as a single string, and the data holder cannot determine what is the first name and middle names, the data holder can use the firstName field and an empty middleNames array
• In the instance where all given names are held by the data holder as a single string, and the data holder cannot determine what is the first name and middle names, the data holder can use the firstName field and an empty middleNames array
• In the instance where a first name is not the first-preceding given name, use the known first name as firstName and the remaining given names in order in middleNames

Example	Full name	Given Names	firstName value	middleNames[] value	lastName
A - given names can be determined	Michael James Smith	"Michael", "James"	"Michael"	["James"]	"Smith"
B - hyphenated compound first name	Mary-Jane Smith	"Mary-Jane"	"Mary-Jane"	[ ]	"Smith"
C - compound given names as first name cannot be separated	John Paul Taylor	"John Paul"	"John Paul"	[ ]	"Taylor"
C2 - compound first names with middle names	John Paul Henry Arthur Taylor	"John Paul", "Henry", "Arthur"	"John Paul"	["Henry", "Arthur" ]	"Taylor"
C3 - many given names are held by the DH as a single string and decomposition cannot be determined	John Paul Winston Taylor	"John Paul Winston"	"John Paul Winston"	[ ]	"Taylor"
D - many given names but only one first name	Julie Louise Amanda Alice Cooper	"Julie", "Louise", "Amanda", "Alice"	"Julie"	["Louise", "Amanda", "Alice"]	"Cooper"
E - many given names but the person associated by a non-first given name	Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland	"Mary", "Barbara", "Hamilton"	"Barbara"	["Mary", "Hamilton"]	"Cartland"
F - Non-English name where surname is presented first	Nguyen Thi Minh Khai	"Thi", "Minh", "Khai"	"Thi"	["Minh", "Khai"]	"Nguyen"
G - Person only has one name	Rhianna	—	null	[ ]	"Rhianna"

Are there any instances where firstName and middleNames fields cannot be used to correctly present all given names?

Notes:

• For people with single names the single name should be in the lastName
• For people with no middle names, middleName is mandatory but the array is empty

[CDR-API-Stream]

Based on discussion in the maintenance iteration call, examples C2 and C3 have been provided.

[WestpacOpenBanking]

We are supportive of the proposed option. We request that the changes be incorporated directly into the data standards to avoid ambiguity on whether data holder implementations would be compliant with the data standards when implementing this option. Alternatively, if the data standards are not updated to reflect this change, we request that guidance is published stating that this approach would be compliant with rule 4.6 (4).

[CDR-API-Stream]

Hi @WestpacOpenBanking, this change is now staged for review: https://github.com/ConsumerDataStandardsAustralia/standards-staging/compare/release/1.11.1...maintenance/394

The change includes clarifying documentation to the standards to deal with the handling of given names under these situations. Because it is a documentation fix, this change is intended for release v1.11.1.

[CDR-API-Stream]

This issue has been included in the v1.11.1 documentation errata and patch release.

This issue will be closed accordingly.