Was my gg granddad a William or a Neil Ward?

[1banshee]

Hi,

I have a transcribed copy of my great grandfather's, (William Ward), marriage certificate and also a copy of his death certificate too.  On his wedding document his Father's name is listed as William Ward of Wapping Lane, Derry, however, on his death certificate it looks as though it is Neil Ward.  I have attached a copy of the death certificate insert and wonder if anyone could confirm whether he was a William or a Neil.  Also, I am correct in seeing his Mother as one Mary Barker?

Thanks in Advance,

Michelle

[sami]

It does look like Neil rather than some form of William.

And Mary's maiden surname looks like Barker.

sami

[PrawnCocktail]

Same here. Neil and Barker

But what is on a death certificate is just what the informant told the Registrar. Whoever the informant was here, may not have been ready for the question, and just said what they thought, which isn't necessarily correct!

My own grandmother has the wrong age on her death certificate - her SISTER got it wrong by one year! And having done so, thought it wasn't really going to matter to anyone. In 1971, when my grandmother died, it didn't matter at all - but now I am seeing people, who obviously don't know, putting her date of birth wrong on their online trees!

[1banshee]

Thanks for the replies ~ I kind of assumed that this would have been the case re the death certificate and whoever registered it ~ I have Nellys instead of Ellens and Catherines instead of Katies etc and one that does have me flumuxed is Cissy?!?  Similar trend runs throughout my family tree; can be extremely confusing at times when the birth, marriage and death all have differing names too!  Oh the joys Thanks again x

[McGroger]

Hi, 1banshee,

From the excellent site, whatsinaname.net, Cissie is a pet name for Cecily.

But I suspect it is also an even less formal pet name for many (often younger) sisters. I have a friend, Braith, whose sister, Katrina, has always, to my knowledge, been known as Sissy - simply a shortening of sister to Sis, then expanded to Sissy. I’m sure many others would have similar stories. Sometimes people who know such people by the pet name have no idea of their "real” name, so that the pet name becomes their real name!

Peter

[iolaus]

I have a 4+great grandfather whose death was registered as Joseph, his birth and all records up till he was 70 odd is Joel - my assumption is he was known as Joe and whoever registered his death didn't realise what Joe was short for

[Annie65115]

I have a Sarah in my tree who was always known as "Aunt Sissy" (and she was one of the older daughters so it wasn't even a pet name for the little sister).