Construction of the Armenian Surname List (ASL) for public health research

BACKGROUND: There are an estimated 460,000 Armenians in the United States, and more than half live in California. Armenian-Americans are generally represented within the ‘White’ or ‘Some Other Race’ race categories in population-based research studies. While Armenians have been included in studies focused on Middle-Eastern populations, there are no studies focused exclusively on Armenians due to a lack of standardized collection of Armenian ethnicity in the United States or an Armenian surname list. To fill this research gap, we sought to construct and evaluate an Armenian Surname List (ASL) for use as an identification tool in public health and epidemiological research studies focused on Armenian populations. METHODS: Data sources for the ASL included the California Public Use Death Files (CPUDF) and the Middle Eastern Surname List (MESL). For evaluation of the ASL, the California Cancer Registry (CCR) database was queried for surnames with birthplace in Armenia and identified by the MESL. RESULTS: There are a total of 3,428 surnames in the ASL. Nearly half (1,678) of surnames in the ASL were not identified by the MESL. The ASL captured 310 additional Armenian surnames in the CCR than the MESL. CONCLUSIONS: The ASL is the first surname list for identifying Armenians in major databases for epidemiological research. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12874-023-01848-1.