Question on name change

[heywood]

Thanks Sue.

Going back to your original post, Elizabeth is Thomas in 1871 when she is 10 yrs old so probably no control over her name.
In 1881 and 1891.she is Elizabeth Ivey.
Did she marry Samuel Radford? What name did she use?
In 1901 Joseph's name was probably provided by the householder as Thomas.
I haven't checked 1911.

[sadge]

1911 census Joseph is Ivey and down as son in law, he is married by then to Ruth Copeland. I did notice that Elizabeth is a Thomas then back to Ivey. When Elizabeth married Samuel Redford she married as Bessie Ivey.

[heywood]

Heywood, when Sarah A Thomas was baptised at the age of 19 years it is down that Richard Thomas and Jane were here parents. Now given Jane died in 1878 I would doubt very much she was her daughter. We do not know who the father is of any of these children but might hazard  guess that it might be Richard Thomas but no proof.

Susan

Lancashire BMD shows birth of Sarah Ann Ivy with mother's name Ivy.

[andrewalston]

Surnames often switch back and forth when the mother remarries (as they do today). Often this is done for convenience - how many times do you want to explain why your child has a different surname from the rest of the family?
Sometimes a child sticks with the stepfather's surname because that was the only father they ever knew. It might come as a surprise that their birth certificate had a different name on it.

One of my own gg gfs was born as Edward Pickering. His father died when he was 4, and his mother remarried when he was 11. He is Edward Crewdson in 1891, and again in 1901 AFTER he had moved out of the family home. He married in 1903 and lived thereafter as Edward Pickering. The witnesses were his newly married brother John Crewdson and his wife.