Cultural Diversity - The Civil Service

Land Registry Cultural DiversityGuidance on Naming SystemsIntroductionAs not everyone you come across will be a Christian you should ensure that you avoidusing the term ‘Christian name’ and use ‘first name’ instead.ChineseThe traditional Chinese naming system places the family name first followed by thepersonal name. Chinese people living in the UK may use either the traditional methodor the UK system where the personal name comes first followed by the family name.In China around 90% of people share around 100 family names and 70% share 50names. The most popular family names are: Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, Chen, Yang, Wu,Liu, Huang and Zhou.The family name is nearly always followed by a two-part personal name. The twonames are usually hyphenated and should be used together.GujaratiThe basic pattern for males is:Personal Name – Father’s Personal Name – Family NameFor example:Father’s name – Karam Chand GandhiGiven name – Mohan DasFull name – Mohandas Karamchand GandhiThe basic pattern for females is normally to have a personal name and a family nameonly.Patel and Shah are very common names within the Gujarati community.As a sign of respect title affixes are often used:Ji, Bhai and Lal for males, e.g. Gandhiji.Bai or Min for females.25