Understanding a male birth certificate indicating a name change

[2dandan]

I have an "extract of an entry from the Register of Births of Scotland" regarding a male family member born in the early 1930's.

This person is still living so I will respect his privacy and not give any identifiable information.

He has declined to discuss his childhood.

He was born out of wedlock in a birthing home in Glasgow. His mother, who was a domestic servant registered the birth and no father is named on the birth certificate.

I will use the letters A B C to indicate first, middle and surnames.

The name and surname on the certificate is listed as A. B.

The time, date and place of birth is recorded as is the mothers information.

There is a full width box directly below the above text boxes and it has the following information...........

Formerly known as A. B. C. ( A and B being the same name as that registered on the certificate and C being the mother's surname)

There is also a reference number R.C.E. xxx/xxxx/GLW. (The x's refer to digits)

Can anyone explain this to me?

Could it be a change of name by deed poll and if so is it possible to obtain that information somewhere?

[djct59]

R. C. E. is the Register of Corrected Entries.

If his mother raised an action at common law for "affiliation and aliment" and was successful, the father's paternity and obligation to maintain would be decreed by law. At that stage, there being no formal procedure in Scotland analogous to English "deed poll", the mother could elect to give the child the surname of the father as now proven by order of court, and the Registrar would correct the birth entry to reflect the true legal position.

[2dandan]

Many thanks for your interesting reply which makes perfect sense.

Do you know if there is a process to obtain details of the affiliation and aliment action or to get further information from the GRO or the local court if it can be identified?

Would a formal/informal adoption be a suitable reason for the corrected entry?

[djct59]

Adoption became legally permissible in Scotland in 1930. Court records will still exist and might be in the National Archives.

However, as your relative is still alive I suspect the record may not be open to the public yet. He might well not want his private personal details to be known during his lifetime.

[2dandan]

I strongly suspect that there might have been some sort of "adoption" along the way however the subject is not up for discussion with my relative despite my polite requests.

I will carry out further routine enquiries to see if I can progress my family tree in that way but other than that I will respect his privacy.

Many thanks for your input.

[Forfarian]

If the RCE reports an action for paternity, it will name the father. If the father's name accounts for the alteration, there is no need to speculate about further proceedings such as adoption. In Scotland you can use any name you like provided you do not do so with intent to defraud.

Your first step is to find someone who is going to the Scotland's People Centre or an affiliated archives, and would be willing to look up the RCE and transcribe it for you. Someone here might offer, but if not you would need to hire a professional searcher. As you have full details of the birth, it would only take minutes to check the RCE and note down the relevant information.

Forget about trying to get access to adoption records. These are firmly closed except to the adopted person or someone acting on his authority, which you are obviously not going to get.

[2dandan]

 Forfarian.

I live in Ayrshire so can access the Scotland's People archive at the Burns Monument centre in Kilmarnock.

Thank you for that specific information. Very helpful.

[Forfarian]

Oh good, that should make it a lot easier for you then.

[carolineasb]

There would be no information regarding an adoption on a birth registration entry, apart from the annotation/stamp on the entry that the child was, in fact, adopted if this was after the start of statutory adoption. Any change of name would be shown in the Birth Certificate as amended by the adoption and these records are not searchable at an SP Centre.