General Chat

Birth certificates are not immutable they can be changed.

RTR not of a person whos gone through the legal adoption process,,,that persons birth name no longer applies to them and as such cant be changed..….

An adopted person uses the full name and surname they have been legally given,on adoption ,,,,,,,,,,,,and on marriage uses the adopted father as a parent


, after adoption they are lawfuly and legally considered a child of- John and Ann..with the same rights as a child of their own.

:-D what a dull place the world would be if we were all the same, don't you think?

Isn't this why genealogy can be so confusing?

One of my Grandsons was born just before his Mum's divorce was made absolute, although she and her ex had been separated for over a year. He was born in Jersey and Jersey law insists on the child being registered in the name of the mother's husband. He had to be registered before they left the Island so his birth certificate was in his mother's ex's name. (fortunately it was all amicable between the adults involved.). Every time he changed schools daughter had a fight to get them to register him under his Father's surname. when he was 18 he, by his choice, changed his surname to that of his father and brothers. (To further complicate matters daughter and the boys' father didn't marry until they had lived together for over 20 years and she for business reasons kept her first married name). After son in law died and she re-married, she was no longer working so took her new husband's name. and I STILL get confused!

Joy

Really a similar thing with my birth surname

My paternal grandfather was German surname Fahse with umlauts over the a

He and a younger brother anglicised their Christian names and the surname to Fasey and both used the names to join the British army in the late 1890,.s both lied and said they were British and born in Bradford York’s.this was were they lived in 1889 when the youngest brother was born

Grandfather continued to use the name .marrying in 1902 and my dad born in 1907 and his elder siblings were registered in the British name
Grandfather died in 1911

That name has been carried through the generations and is still the family surname but it was never legally acquired


Our dad was always proud he was named after his father even though he had no memory of him and called his stepfather dad.
But dad really wasn’t named after his father as his dad had a completely different birth name


Only found the real names of all grandfathers family recently through a Facebook German genealogy board

Shirley is right in one respect, in that as far as adoptees are concerned, once the adoption process has been completed you are known by your adoptive parents' surname but it does not prevent you from changing to another name when you are an adult. Adoption does mean, however, that you are entitled to inherit nothing from your birth parents unless they specifically leave you anything in their wills.

I grew up with a surname invented (without any legal documentation) by my Grandfather. My older cousin and I knew this when we were girls. We both used the invented name when we married. Whatever name is shown on your marriage certificate, whether birth-name, adoptive name or a completely made-up name, the marriage is still valid (unless, of course, you are already married but that's another story altogether).

My two brothers use different surnames but they are full brothers who both used the made-up surname when they married.

It sounds as though the person you write about has become close to his birth parents. If he chooses to become known by their surname, I believe that is his/her choice. He/she may even like to hyphenate his surname, combining both - not to upset but rather to acknowledge his mixed history. Details regarding father on the marriage certificate are dictated by the groom/bride so, again, the record will show whatever the newly-weds state - and, occasionally, illegitimate children invent a father and his occupation.

Personally, such a thing would not bother me but I appreciate how it would be a dilemma for some. A marriage is a marriage, whatever name you choose to be married under.

Good luck to him/her whatever name is chosen. A marriage is a marriage whatever name is chosen - it would only be invalid if one of the 'newly-weds' was already married and not divorced, ie a bigamist.

You would marry in your current name because that’s your legal name once you have been adopted

I expect they'd have to marry on the name that was on their birth certificate.
My gran never married, my dad never knew who his real father was,and always went by his mother's maiden name.
However, he was adopted when he was 16, and was issued with a new birth certificate - that was the name he was married by, and the name we children bore.

Having said that - the person could always change their surname to that of their birth father.

I'm divorced and still go by my ex's surname.
My maiden name was my dad's stepfather's name, and I'm not too keen on that.
If I changed my surname, I would choose a now obsolete name from dad's mum's side, Carminowe, so if I changed it to Carminowe on my birth certificate and remarried - I would use that surname.

If you have been adopted, then that name you have been given will be your name until you die or marry(if ur female)

On the marriage certificate it will show your adoptive name not your birth name.

Even if a person knew their birth parents after they were adopted..ie when they grew up and were told they were adopted,their birth name would not be used.

As I understand it, when a person is given up for adoption, the birth mother or parents lose any rights to that child.They have no right to trace that child at all.
If the child later in life wants to trace their birth parents then that is their choice.

If you also mean will it name the adoptive father on the birth certificate, then yes it would.

unless of course the adoptive parents have died and maybe the birth parents are still alive but then the person would still have their adoptive name.

I do know a lady who was adopted and knew her mother.But when she got married it was her adoptive name and her adoptive father put on the marriage certificate.

Hope this helps as it sounds all a bit complicated

Florence in the hebrides

Would it matter which name they chose?

I should think they could use any name they wanted to be called by as the marriage would still be valid.

But if someone is adopted and knows their birth parents details would they marry in their adopted name and what would be on the marriage certificate please?