Birth decades and common surnames of current students

The request was partially successful.

Dear Cardiff Metropolitan University,

The information I am requesting will provide insight into how diverse the current student body is in terms of students within various age brackets, as well as students from different ethnic backgrounds, but without identifying any specific individuals.

Please could you provide the following information:

1. How many current students were born in the following decades? Provide figures for each decade.

1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s

2. How many current students have the following surnames? Provide figures for each surname.

Ahmad
Ahmed
Akhtar
Ali
Begum
Bibi
Brown
Chan
Chen
Chowdhury
Cruz
Davies
Devi
Edwards
Evans
Fernandes
Garcia
Griffiths
Harris
Hassan
Huang
Hughes
Hussain
Ibrahim
Iqbal
Islam
James
Johnson
Jones
Kaur
Khan
Kim
Kumar
Lee
Lewis
Li
Liu
Lopez
Lu
Mahmood
Malik
Maung
Miah
Mistry
Mohamed
Mohammed
Morgan
Nguyen
Patel
Rahman
Rees
Roberts
Rodriguez
Shah
Sharma
Singh
Smith
Sun
Taylor
Thomas
Uddin
Walker
Wang
Williams
Wilson
Wong
Wu
Xu
Yang
Yu
Zhang
Zhao
Zhou
Zhu

Note that these are some of the most common surnames in the world, and information is typically deemed to be fully anonymised if there are at least 3-5 individuals to whom the information could refer to. This is the basis used in the publication of academic studies, which have to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018.

If any surnames fall below the anonymisation threshold (context must be taken into account to determine the exact figure), please could you replace the figures for such surnames with an asterisk.

If possible, I would appreciate receiving the data in CSV or Excel format.

Yours faithfully,

Alan Smith

Freedom of Information, Cardiff Metropolitan University

┌────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┐
│Annwyl Alan, │Dear Alan, │
│ │ │
│Diolch am eich cais am wybodaeth (o │Thank you for your request for │
│dan Ddeddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000).│information (under the Freedom of │
│Derbyniwyd eich cais ar  25.04.2025 │Information Act 2000). Your request│
│a rhoddwyd y cyfeirnod canlynol │was received on the 25.04.2025 │
│iddo: RI2823. Defnyddiwch y │and has been given the following │
│cyfeirnod hwn ym mhob gohebiaeth yn │reference number: RI2823. Please │
│y dyfodol os gwelwch yn dda. Diolch.│use this reference number in all │
│ │future correspondence. Thank you. │
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│wneud hynny.  │reason(s) why. │
│ │ │
│Os oes gennych unrhyw ymholiadau am │If you have any queries about this │
│y neges gydnabod hon ac/neu eich │acknowledgement and/or your │
│cais, neu os byddwch yn anfodlon â’r│request, or if at any stage you are│
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│unrhyw bryd, mae croeso ichi │request is being dealt with, please│
│gysylltu â ni trwy e-bost ([1][email│do not hesitate to contact us by │
│address]). │e-mail ([4][email address]). │
│ │ │
│Diolch yn fawr iawn. │Thank you very much. │
│ │ │
│Yr eiddoch yn gywir, │Yours sincerely, │
│ │ │
│Esther Steele │Esther Steele │
│ │ │
│Ymgynghorydd Llywodraethu a │Governance and Compliance Advisor │
│Chydymffurfiaeth │ │
│ │Cardiff Metropolitan University │
│Prifysgol Metropolitan Caerdydd │ │
│ │Western Avenue │
│Rhodfa’r Gorllewin │ │
│ │Cardiff │
│Caerdydd │ │
│ │Wales, UK │
│Cymru, DU │ │
│ │CF5 2YB │
│CF5 2YB │ │
│ │Email: [5][email address] │
│E-bost: [2][email address] │ │
│ │[6]www.cardiffmet.ac.uk   │
│[3]www.cardiffmet.ac.uk   │ │
└────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────┘

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Freedom of Information, Cardiff Metropolitan University

1 Attachment

Dear Alan,

Reference Number: RI2823.

Thank you for your request for information (under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000) regarding birth decades and common surnames.

We are pleased to confirm that we hold the information you have requested
and are therefore able to provide answers to your questions in the
attached Excel Spreadsheet.

Any data under 5 is marked with * and anything with 0 is a none/null.

The data is for the last complete academic year, so 2023/24 in this case.

If you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been dealt with
or with the outcome of the consideration given to your request, you may
ask for an Internal Review. If you are not content with the outcome of the
Internal Review you have the right to apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. Our procedure for carrying out Internal
Reviews can be found under the ‘Complaint’ section of [1]this document.

If you have any queries about this response or would like any further
information about your request, or the Freedom of Information Act in
general, please do not hesitate to contact us again by e-mail ([2][email
address]).

Yours sincerely,

Esther Steele

Governance and Compliance Advisor / Ymgynghorydd Llywodraethu a
Chydymffurfiaeth

Cardiff Metropolitan University / Prifysgol Metropolitan Caerdydd

Western Avenue / Rhodfa’r Gorllewin

Cardiff / Caerdydd

Wales, UK / Cymru, DU

CF5 2YB

Email / E-bost: [3][email address]

[4]www.cardiffmet.ac.uk  

Compliance Information on InSite:
[5]https://outlookuwicac.sharepoint.com/sit...

Mae Met Caerdydd yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg a Saesneg a byddwn yn
sicrhau ein bod yn cyfathrebu â chi yn eich dewis iaith boed yn Gymraeg,
yn Saesneg neu’n ddwyieithog dim ond i chi roi gwybod i ni pa un sydd well
gennych. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn creu unrhyw oedi.

Cardiff Met welcomes correspondence in English and Welsh and we will
ensure that we communicate with you in the language of your choice,
whether that’s English, Welsh or bilingual as long as you let us know
which you prefer. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to any delay.

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