THE Australian Electoral Commission bowed to community pressure on Friday by announcing that Reid will be retained as a federal electorate.

In its proposed moving of electoral boundaries, the Redistribution Committee for NSW had recommended dropping the name of the western Sydney electorate, held by Laurie Ferguson for the Labor Party since 1990, altogether.

Reid was named in 1922 after one of Australia's founding fathers, Sir George Reid, a former NSW premier and first Scottish-born Australian prime minister.

Projected population increases were the reason for the proposed boundary changes which will see electors in the current seat of Reid transferred to electorates including Lowe, Parramatta and Prospect.

The proposal prompted a campaign by Sir George Reid's only granddaughter, Anne Fairbairn, to retain the name. The Sun supported the campaign.

Mrs Fairbairn rallied support from the local community as well as a range of influential Australians including former NSW Supreme Court judge, Thomas Waddell.

Justice Waddell's submission said Reid should remain because it was ``so intimately connected with ... the creation of the Australian constitution''. He also said this consideration was more important than finding an electorate to commemorate ``one of our least distinguished prime ministers''.

The commission received more than 70 submissions objecting to the proposal.

``I am over the moon,'' Mrs Fairbairn said on Friday after hearing the news.

Mr Ferguson also couldn't contain his excitment. ``It's a great outcome,'' he said. ``The momentum from the public and from historians and judges was tremendous.''

He has previously remarked that he was ``not impressed'' by his party's failure to make a submission on the proposal.

The commission had proposed renaming the adjoining electorate of Lowe after former prime minister Sir William McMahon.

Instead, Lowe will now be re-named Reid while Prospect will be renamed McMahon.

Mrs Fairbairn said her grandfather was a Liberal ``in the true sense of the word''. ``He believed everyone should have a fair go. I am wondering if this is fair for Laurie Ferguson.''

Buoyed by the decision, Mr Ferguson said he was definitely planning to contest the next federal election but admitted party politics could stand in his way.

``The local membership of the party should have some say in this,'' he said. ``It shouldn't be imposed in back rooms.''