Chosen to recognise the work of Canberra's original designer, American architect Walter Burley Griffin, critics have long argued the inclusion of Griffin's middle name was a mistake in the christening of the lake, leaving some with the impression his surname was Burley Griffin.

Friday's anniversary of the October 17, 1964 inauguration by then prime minister Sir Robert Menzies comes as calls for a rethink reach the powerful committee which oversees Canberra's national landmarks.

Proposals include Lake Walter Griffin or simply Lake Griffin, which could also honour Marion Mahony Griffin, who worked in partnership with her husband to produce watercolours of the designs for Canberra.

A National Capital Authority spokeswoman said on Tuesday the lake's name would be considered by the Canberra National Memorials Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, at a future meeting.

The group, which includes Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and other senior politicians, is expected to take up the matter after the government provides an official response to the 2011 inquiry report into the administration of memorials.

A spokesman for ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said former territories minister Simon Crean had confirmed the name of the lake would "be tabled at the first available meeting".

No date has been set.

Debate about the name dates to the earliest development of the lake's ornamental waters. Historians and academics, including the University of Canberra's associate professor, Dianne Firth, have recorded that the name Lake Griffin was considered to be lacking in gravitas.

In his 1970 memoir, The Measure of the Years, Menzies wrote that then interior minister Gordon Freeth reported "widespread feeling" that the lake should be named for Menzies himself.

Menzies championed the lake's development during his record tenure in The Lodge.

Rejecting the suggestion, Menzies said Canberra lacked a memorial dedicated to its original designer.

"I want to have the lake called Lake Burley Griffin," Menzies wrote in a chapter about Canberra's development. "It was so named and has given Griffin a memorial which no man ever so handsomely deserved."

The Canberra Times reported in May 1962 that the name Lake Burley Griffin had appeared on the map of Canberra for the first time, and was included in the Commonwealth Gazette.

The report said filling of water would begin in 1963, with the construction of a concrete embankment of the southern shore of the Central Basin under way.

"A dam at Woden will hold back water extending 6½ miles from Duntroon to Government House," the report said.

Heather Henderson, the daughter of Sir Robert Menzies and a Canberra resident, said on Tuesday the lake had the wrong name.

"It should be either Lake Walter Griffin or Lake Griffin because Burley is a middle name," Mrs Henderson said. "It would be like calling my father Gordon, which was never used.

"I have done no investigation myself but as far as I have been told, Griffin didn't use that middle name during his life."

Mrs Henderson said changing the name could be difficult and costly and any move to rename the lake in honour of her father would be unwise.

"I think it is a bit late for anything like that. The argument there is over," she said.