Genealogy Chat

My father in-law celebrates his birthday on Jan 14th.He is 73,a couple of years ago his wife got out his birth cert and his birthday is registered as 13th Jan,my father in-law doesn't know why he has always celebrated on th 14th!!!

My great grandmother was registered as Ann Maria but married twice as Hannah Maria. She appears on censuses an Ann; Annie; and Maria.

I have a funny, wrong sex transcription on Ancestry from my tree. The actual entry on Index reads JOE RANGALL SANGER - but it has been transcribed as EVE PUNGALI SANGER - so, from a boy to a girl! And even then, the 'RANGALL' bit was obviously a mispelling by the Registrar on the certificate - the name is RANDALL. We think maybe the mother or father had a bad cold at the time they registered the birth! LOL!

Has anyone else got a birth cert. for someone who 'changed' sex? Mum's aunt married Evan( rhymes with even) His birth cert shows that his birth was registered as Eva in 1888 by his mother, who made her mark. To the right of column 10 there is a correction made saying column 2 should read 'Evan' not Eva and column 3 should read 'boy' not girl. after a statutory declaration by the parents in 1901, - presumably when Evan was about to start work. Evan later had 2 children so I guess it was just a case of pronunciation and his mother not being able to read the certificate anyway.

My grandmother is shown as Annie Alice on her bc., Alice on her m.c. and Alice Anne on her d.c. I already had her original m.c. and knew within a month or so when she died, but her birth entry took a bit of sorting out.

My Great Aunt had one name on her birth cert and just kept adding them - by her death she had 4! I think she was a bit of a walter mitty, plus she married twice and added the names of the hubbies mums on to hers - perhaps a bit of a creep too, eh?

My husband's great grandmother's cert says she is Rose. She is Rose on all the censuses, but on her marriage and death certs she is Rosella. I think she just wanted something a bit fancier! nell

The names on the later certs are as given, she was probably born Emma, but was always known as Emily, so gave this name at marriage and then at death the informent gave the name they know her by, no mistakes just how the info is given.

The problem is often with the trancription from the original certificate onto the GRO records. My own marriage certificate was mistranscribed - both mine and my wifes surnames are incorrect. I also have an ancestor whose surname bears no resemblance to his actual name - kept us fooled for years. If possible try and obtain a copy from the local registry as well.

Well, it's possible that when the local registrar was completing his GRO returns at the end of the Q, he had a funny-five-minutes and wrote the wrong forename!! You could try phoning the local registrars and ask if they could look at the original. You can prove you have bought the cert as you will have the registration date, which you couldn't know if you didn't have the cert already! I expect though, she just decided she didn't like that name and prefered another!! My g-grandmother was Sarah Jane on her birth cert and Sarah Jane on her first census aged 2. Every other record after that she had dropped the Sarah and was just Jane. Absolutely no one in the family believed she had ever been Sarah even those who knew her. Merry

My uncle was born on 29 February but when I got his birth cert, it had 1 March on it. The registrar must have forgotten it was a Leap Year - LOL!! Lynne

Thanks all for your advice! I couldnt find her birth on the indexes for ages (cos I was looking for Emily). I sent away for the Emma just in case, and lo and behold, its her. I found the entry on freebmd and 1837 online, and ordered the cert from ONS. My dad is insistent that her name was Emily however!

I had to get a full copy of my own birth cerificate last week............my mothers middle name did not look right so I telephoned the registrar......................the name was fine but they had made a mistake in the address of my father...............a simple error........they had mixed up the address were I was born with my fathers address which was an army camp nearby..............mistakes can happen but how would you ever find out unless you knew it was wrong

Kim, some birth certs have the wrong dob because the parents would have been fined for late registration if they had told the truth, so they lied! Births should be registered within 42 days of the birth. Could that be the reason for your nan?? Merry

Hi Steph My lot are terrible for doing that. My dad was given middle name of Charles after his grandfather. Surname Smith. Spent forever looking for Charles Smith (as you would with a surname like that!!). Finally had to go sideways. Found Grandads' mum and then checked her marriage details to trace Charles. He was called George. No one except his wife knew!!!!!! :0)

Was the entry Emma or Emily in the GRO Indexes? Did you get the cert from the GRO or from the local Reg office? Merry

Hi Sarah I too had that only my g/grandmothers surname had been Kidd and on her daughter marraige cert was Mackay don not know how they can get it wrong when we can access records and see name for ourselfs

My Nan's birth certificate shows the wrong date of birth... only by a few days. We haven't been able to work out why just yet!

And of course there is my entry as Hoather Dixon on the bmd beta civil registration index!!!

I have encountered Emily and Emma being used by the same person a couple of times. I think its a Victorian thing designed to confuse us family history researchers of the future. Liz ;-)