California Cancer Reporting System Standards Volume I: Abstracting and Coding Procedures
The patient's name is used by reporting facilities as a patient identifier.
Each name field is 40 characters in length.
If more than 40 characters, enter only the first 40.
Spaces, hyphens and apostrophes are allowed.
Do not use other punctuation.
Last Name
Enter the patient's entire last name.
If the patient has no last name, enter NLN (Examples: Prince or Madonna).
If the name cannot be determined or is unknown, enter “UNKNOWN” or “Unknown”.
If a patient's last name has changed, enter the current last name in the Last Name field and move the original name to the Alias field.
Maiden Name
Enter a woman's maiden name, if known, even if it has been entered in the Last Name field.
Leave the field blank if maiden name is not known.
Alias Last Name
An alias (also known as, or AKA) surname used by the patient, certain religious order names (See Religious Names), or the first part of a Chinese name that might appear as a last name on another report. (For example, Sun Yat sen might appear elsewhere as Sun, Yat sen or Yat sen Sun).
The spelled out version of a name containing the word Saint.
Leave the field blank if there is no alias last name.
Do not enter a maiden name in the Alias Last Name field.
First Name
Enter the patient's entire first name.
If a woman uses her husband's full name (e.g., Mrs. John Smith), try to learn her first name.
If the patient has no first name, enter NFN.
If the name cannot be determined or is unknown, enter “UNKNOWN” or “Unknown”.
Note: CCR coding instructions for unknown first name differs from SEER and FORDS. For this data item, CCR follows the NPCR coding instructions to pass NPCR submission edits.
If the patient's first name is not a common male or female name or it is ambiguous with regard to gender, include a statement in the Remarks field confirming the patient's gender.
Alias First Name
Enter the alias (also known as, or AKA) first name used by the patient.
Leave the field blank if there is no alias first name.
Middle Name
Enter the patient's middle name or middle initial.
Leave the space blank if there is no middle name or initial or if it is not known.