The commission had received dozens of objections to the electorate bearing the name, due to anti-semitic comments Bean made about General John Monash during World War I. In its determination, the commission said the decision was made "following extensive deliberations".

"The augmented Electoral Commission voted 4-2 in favour of adopting the Redistribution Committee’s proposal to name the southern electoral division 'Bean', to recognise Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean," the statement said. The Commission has clarified that the two votes were against the name 'Bean' and not in favour of a specific other name.

Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said the objections had been taken into account.

"All written objections and comments as well as the information presented at the inquiry in Canberra have been carefully considered in deciding the final names and boundaries,” he said.

The names of Fenner and Canberra have been retained for the other electorates.

The boundaries between the three electorates have remained largely unchanged from the initial proposal, except for the suburb of Phillip, which was originally split between electorates along Hindmarsh Drive. It will now be entirely within the seat of Bean. The border between electorates will now run along Hindmarsh Drive, Melrose Drive and Yamba Drive.

Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson has labelled the determination “wonderful”.

“This is significant, and fitting, a long overdue tribute to a man who was by any standards, a giant of the early twentieth century in our country,” Dr Nelson said.

Dr Nelson has been one of the most vocal supporters of naming the electorate after Charles Bean, and believes that despite the war memorial founder’s views about General John Monash during the war, Bean showed that he had changed within his lifetime.

“Whilst he was a product of his generation, he was a man who shed the prejudices of the Australia from which he had come long before others did,” he said.

“I think what this honour does is remind all of us of the importance of dedication, of commitment, of having an open mind, of upholding the democratic principles which are too often taken for granted,” Dr Nelson said.

Co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Peter Wertheim has questioned why the name of Bean was kept by the commission.

“Charles Bean regrettably demonstrated a degree of antagonism towards Jews at different times in his professional career. The incident in which Bean sought to overturn John Monash’s promotion as Australia’s first native-born Australian Corps Commander, and the overt anti-Jewish prejudice which motivated it, is notorious and is a stain on what was otherwise a commendable record of public service,” Mr Wertheim said.

“In Victoria and South Australia, electorate names were changed because of serious blemishes on the record of the people those seats were named after. The Jewish community will be wondering why, in contrast, Bean’s record of casual antisemitism could be so easily brushed aside. There are worthier candidates after whom the seat could have been named.”

Mr Wertheim said the Executive Council had not made a submission as part of the official process because they felt they could not add more to what had already been said by many other submissions.

Labor member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann confirmed on Tuesday that she would run for preselection in the seat of Bean. She welcomed the change of boundary to include Phillip in the electorate.