The Global Case Management System (GCMS) naming instructions were updated by the government of Canada on January 10, 2022.
The guideline advises that clients who have an uncommon name field in the visual inspection zone (VIZ) of their travel document and want to include it on their primary name record in the GCMS, must provide additional supporting documentation. This is to prove that the uncommon name is part of their legal name. These can be other government-issued documents that clearly demonstrate the applicant’s legal name.
Some travel documents may include a field in the VIZ, such as post-name or community name. When this happens, the machine readable zone (MRZ) is used to determine whether a given name will be recorded in IRCC's system as the primary name. IRCC's system of record will record a name in an uncommon name field as an AKA (alias) or other name type if it is not indicated in the MRZ.
A patronymic is a component of a name based on the given name from one’s father, grandfather or an earlier male ancestor while a matronymic is a component of a name based on the given name of one’s mother or a female ancestor. However, patronymics and matronymics will be recorded in IRCC’s system of record if they are identified as part of the name in the MRZ of the travel document.