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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: ajf25 on Wednesday 21 September 11 13:45 BST (UK)
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We've all had instances of coming across inconsistencies in certificates that we've ordered.
What is really confronting is when you order your own and it comes back with your first name, spelt differently than you have used all your life.
Alison or should I say Allison :-[ ??? :-\
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These things happen! One of my cousins has a most unusual spelling of her name on her birth certificate. Apparently, it didn't occur to her mother, when sending her husband off to register the birth of her daughter and giving her this lovely Irish name, that he didn't know how to spell it!
Also, my own brother celebrated his birthday on the wrong day for the first twenty years or so of his life. Only when he had to produce his birth cert as part of the procedure for joining the navy did we discover that my mother had misremembered the date!
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Lol!
I had a friend who was a registrar. One day a woman came in to register the birth of her 12th child. When asked the child's name she said "Elizabeth".
My friend said "Is that with an s or a z?"
The woman looked bewildered for a moment and then said "no, with an E"!
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Ha Ha,
I imagine 12 kids would send your mind to mush.
Alison ;D
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My own mum, for the the 54 years that I knew her was 'Marion'. It was only when she had passed on [and before I started my FH ] did I find out that she was Kathleen Marion Emma
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ours was a "Marriage Certificate Shock"!
We needed a Civil Certificate for inheritance purposes several years ago (married 25 years at the time). We probably had used our Church Cert before that (issued on marriage day with correct date).
OH went into GRO, and applied - no marriage registered! Eventually, marriage was found on 1st of month, rather than 18th.
In order to change this, it seems we'd have to go to court, etc.
So now we just use the incorrect date for official purposes.
eadaoin
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You just reminded me of another one 7igerby7he7ail. I went to my Auntie Molly's funeral many years ago. Throughout the cemeremony the priest kept referring to this woman called 'Mary'. The first few times he did it I was very taken aback and seriously wondered what was going on and whether this might be one of those bizarre scenarios where I had turned up at the wrong funeral. Then the penny dropped. Of course, Molly is a pet name for 'Mary'. What a terrible giveaway that he didn't actually know her personally from Adam, just from the paperwork!
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At an aunts funeral who had been married twice, her name was given as the surname as the first husband! Apparently there were a few raised eyebrows. The kids father was the first husband . I suspect a few people nearly choked on that one.
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Hi
My Mum died a few years ago 10days after her 91st birthday, as she only had a shortened form of her birth cert
I`d sent for a full one which arrived after she`d died,
Always known as Amy Elizabeth cert came back Amy Elizabeth Flossie !!! My grandfather who registered the birth
couldn`t read nor write neither could my grandmother so wonder where "Flossie" came from. My sister wouldn`t believe until I sent her a copy- just wish Mum had lived a bit longer and could have told us if she`d known of her extra name!!
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When my daughter was born I registered her in the hospital, where the registrar came round to the bedside. We gave her the middle name "Tanja". When the birth certificate came through it had named her "Jamjar". I really felt I couldn't have her going through life called Jamjar so I sent it back!! But she was affectionately called Jamjar for a few weeks after that.
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When my daughter was born I registered her in the hospital, where the registrar came round to the bedside. We gave her the middle name "Tanja". When the birth certificate came through it had named her "Jamjar". I really felt I couldn't have her going through life called Jamjar so I sent it back!! But she was affectionately called Jamjar for a few weeks after that.
;D
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Ha ha Chris_Beds, that's great!
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When my Aunt was born in 1924, Grand Dad was sent to register her birth as Dorothy Jean. Forgetting the correct name she became Dorothy Joan.
Not sure if Nana forgave him, but the name stayed.
Suzy W
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My mother was to be named “Jessica Margaret” - and, her father, a Scotsman, was sent to register the birth. When asked for the child’s names, he replied “Aye, that’ll be Jessie Maggie”. And she hated her names!
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I don't want to be the one to mention this, but there seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging here of a certain gender failing to follow instructions! ;D
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I can remember a story - not sure where from - of a husband sent to register a daughter, with specific instructions that the first name was to be spelt with an e at the end, i.e. Anne rather than Ann.
You guessed it! The certificate came back Ann Witheney Surname ::)
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there is also the story that Trevor Macdonald the news reader was meant to be called George but his father had a few too many beverages on the way to register his arrival into the world and he was therefore called Trevor!
it doesn't top Jamjar though !
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I don't want to be the one to mention this, but there seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging here of a certain gender failing to follow instructions! ;D
Yep, you're quite correct; it was my father who registered me with 2 LLs. Interesting when you consider I was named after his cousin who only had 1 L.
My mother, all these years later is quite indignant that my name isn't as she intended.
Alison :P
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I knew of someone who intended to call her daughter Aimee
She got a bit confused and the daughter's name is Amiee
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I often wonder if the name Elise came about because of a transcription error of Elsie ??? ??? ???
Alison
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Just recently I applied for my seventeen year old sons` birth certificate as he wanted to get his learners licence to drive a car.His name is Daniel but on the certificate it had his name was Danie.For some unknown reason they had missed off the L.It cost me $40 to fix up the mistake.Back seventeen years ago the hospital was the one that sent out the birth information to the Registrar of Birth,Deaths and Marraiges.I can`t remember if I filled in the information or the hospital.
Well I always wanted a daughter,I have six sons. ;D
Johngirl
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A cousin of my own had a terrible shock a few years ago. She had to get her baptismal cert for some reason, and the mother shown on the cert was a different name; not only a different name, but the name of another person in the family, whom she believed to have been a young girl of about 14 at the time! Well, you can imagine. Shock horror all around, theories and suggestions trying to work it all out. We had all but convinced ourselves that there was definitely something shady going on back then when I double checked the 'other person's' age on the records She would have been five at the time! So we all relaxed and blamed the priest for not concentrating!
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When my gran was born way back in 1905 she was to be named Anna Liguori (Liguori after the saint).
The story goes that the father was sent to register the birth but had had a "wee dram" before doing so.
When he was asked to spell it he couldn't as he didn't read or write and she ended up as Annie Agloria ???
She was affectionally known as Annie Gorrie till she died at 93 :)
I'd say the father got an earfull when the wife saw the birth cert!
net64
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This isn`t a tale of a birth cert shock but it does tie in. My grandmother was known to us as Lena yet when she died we discovered her name was in fact Ivy Lena. Typical of her to have not used Ivy, it would have been too common!
Sarah
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We all knew my granddad as Robert Edward, but when I received his birth certificate it just said Robert with no mention of Edward. Why would they have added Edward later? I can find absolutely no reference to anyone other Edward in the family.
Strange.
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Could it have been a name taken at baptism?
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I don't want to be the one to mention this, but there seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging here of a certain gender failing to follow instructions! ;D
;D My grandfather went to register mum's birth, but in his excitement he said the name was Margaret when it should have been Maggie which followed family tradition.
Cheers
KHP
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My surname is spelt different to my Fathers on my birth certificate, he's always spelt it wrong. Also he managed to spell both my brothers and my first names different to the way my mother wanted them spelt when he registered us.
I'll say it again, don't send a drunk irishman to register your kids ;D
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My Aunt needed court permission to marry before my Uncle went off to war. Grandma sent away for the birth cert, Auntie wasn't just one year under age she was actually two years under age!! The magistrate didn't want to give his permission but luckily compassion ruled the day and they were happily married two weeks before Uncle went overseas. :D
Leonie.
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My family had to send out for my birth certificate (born in another state) back in the late 90s when it was time to get my driver's permit.
I was a bit baffled as to why, when I had been known as A.M. surname all my life my birth certificate had M.A. surname.
So, for example instead of Anna Mary, it had Mary Anna.
In any case I got my permit (and now license) with the A.M. name. Apparently the DMV either didn't give a rip which version was on the birth certificate, or went by my social security card.
I found out later that I have a corrected certificate, but it has my mom's age on it wrong.
Ah well, can't win 'em all.
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btw for those interested, apparently there's a short traditions of first born girls being named after their fathers, so that's where my M name comes from. The middle name is after an ancestor that had passed some time before I was born and sentimental older relatives started calling me by my A name and it's stuck ever since.
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My grandmother ,born in Ontario Canada in 1878, went by the name Emma Jane all her life. After her husband died she needed her birth certificate. When it came back it said her name was Francis Howell. Grandma and the rest of the family just assumed that her father had registered her in the name he wanted and then kept quiet about it. A few years ago I found her certificate on the internet. She at been registered by her grand father ,not her dad, by the name Emily Jane. In 1909 or 29 someone else from another province with her family surname sent in a name change to Francis Howell. I don't know who did it or were the other name came from as there is no Frances in the family. The Howell maybe the maiden name of her fathers mother.
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Not quite a Birth Cert Shock but I think this is worth relating.
I remember a few years back I was working in the States when I came across the tale of a baby born to a, let's say, not so sophisticated couple. The proud father took a look at the wrist band and declared that he was happy with the name the hospital had chosen for the little girl. Pronouncing it Feemawlya he didn't get it that all the girls had Female Surname on the bands.
I often wonder if the child was actually registered by that name.
Gerry ;D
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My mum was born a year into ww2
nana had been evacuated to a hotel converted to a maternity home for the war years, and she was alone with no family around her.
After mum was born the registrar came to register births at the home. When the certificate arrived she wasnt impressed that he wiped out generations of family tradition n re namedmum from Mary Irene to Irene may.
mum on the other hand when she realized what her name SHOULD have been was very happy as she didn't like her real name!
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My husband thought his birthday was 23 Feb 1935 until he had to get a copy of his birth certificate in 1969,it came back as 3rd Feb,10 years ago we had to get a full copy of his birth cert for a passport,it came back as 23 Feb,so now he 2 certs & 2 birthdays!!
His mother was Frances after she died we found her name was Sarah & her death was registered as Frances.
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My 1st cousin 1x removed was born in May 1922 but his birth wasn't registered until August as the son of Webster surname and Elizabeth surname nee surname
I found a transcript of his baptism on the internet which took place in July, between his birth and its registration...I got a shock when I found he was listed as the son of Webster surname and Ada surname.....Ada was Elizabeth's married sister!
Now I don't know if it was just a mistake by the minister or whether I have exposed a long hidden family secret as Webster and Elizabeth's marriage ended very quickly afterwards. :o
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my maternal grandmother was one for "stretching" the truth as i was to find out when i started my tree.
we were always led to believe she was born on the 24th december it turned out to be the 22nd but it made her more interesting to be born on christmas eve. she also said she was the oldest of 3. she in fact was the middle child, her first and second names changed places on a regular basis, and so the list goes on but, she was still our lovely nan :-)
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My auntie needed a passport a few years back, and sent of for her birth certificate, it wasn't until it arrived back that she realised that she had been registered under her mother's maiden name and not her father's name, upon further investigate I discovered that her parents hadn't married until a few months before her father's death and my auntie and her 7 siblings all had been registered under their mother's maiden name, yet since birth they had all been known by their father's surname. So there were a few surprises and lots of unanswered questions, as none of the family knew they had a different surname and not the one they had known all their lives.
On my own birth certificate, I have been registered with only a first name and no surname, yet all the other birth certificate I have brought over the years have always had shown a surname. So I wonder if this was a common practice or the surname was omitted for some reason.
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On my birth certificate where it says "name and surname of father "only his two christian names appear.
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I remember a few years back I was working in the States when I came across the tale of a baby born to a, let's say, not so sophisticated couple. The proud father took a look at the wrist band and declared that he was happy with the name the hospital had chosen for the little girl. Pronouncing it Feemawlya he didn't get it that all the girls had Female Surname on the bands.
I often wonder if the child was actually registered by that name.
I'm pretty sure that's an urban legend - http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.asp
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My grandmother was born in 1896 and registered as "Minnie Ina Thiel", married in 1917 as "Minnie Shiel", married again in 1943 as "Minnie Ena" and her death certificate in 1968 as "Minniemena". They do like to make things difficult for researchers.
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Having read through this topic i guess any of us looking for an explanation of the occassional anomaly on birth certificates will start by checking whether the birth had been registered by dad ;D
I could never understand why my sister thought that our mum was two years older than her actual age because that was what mum would tell her. The strange part being that mum had never made a secret of her DOB. so all you needed was to do the maths - and sis was a mathetician ::)
The strange part was that growing up I'd always believed absolutely that my sister was five years older than me with the corresponding DOB and it was only when she died last year that I saw from her birth certificate that she was actually six years older all along ???
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My Grandmother was born in 1891 her given names in her birth certificate were Donah May but in the 1911 census she's just plan May, then the next year she meets my grandfather who she told her name was Mabel, I can sort of see it a young woman meeting this dodgey Italian fellow in Hyde Park not wanting to give her real name, anyway she must have liked the name Mabel as their marriage certificate says she's Mabel Agnes, and those names stuck untill the 1950's when my Mum went to find her birth cerificate for the old age pension and couldn't find any Mabel Agnes with the right birthday, then the real story came out.
Best
John
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W e lived abroad when my youngest child was born, my husband registered the birth.
In England and many other countries the name is very common, however in the country where we were resident at that time it was the name of a certain type of biscuit.
The registrar refused to put it on the certificate saying it would be a burden for the child - being named after a biscuit. My husband had to return with a bible and show it was a name from the O.T. then get a bible in the language of that country to show it was in there too, biscuit or no biscuit.When this child marred the old Verger in the church mixed up the bride`s and groom`s Christian names. The photo taken at the signing of the register is hilarious as they noticed the error . It was hard work getting things sorted, we had to appeal to the Rural Dean as the marriage cert is a legal document and ought not to be altered but we were doubtful of its legality .
It was sorted in the end. Viktoria.
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Having read through this topic i guess any of us looking for an explanation of the occassional anomaly on birth certificates will start by checking whether the birth had been registered by dad ;D
I could never understand why my sister thought that our mum was two years older than her actual age because that was what mum would tell her. The strange part being that mum had never made a secret of her DOB. so all you needed was to do the maths - and sis was a mathetician ::)
The strange part was that growing up I'd always believed absolutely that my sister was five years older than me with the corresponding DOB and it was only when she died last year that I saw from her birth certificate that she was actually six years older all along ???
I've also always known the dob of all my close relatives, day, month, year, (all correct!) and so it's been surprising recently to find out that other people don't seem to notice large discrepancies and the conclusions one might draw from them...
Recently a researcher, T, contacted me to say that her sister in law, HC, was looking for a cousin, D, connected on her mother's side. D is a cousin of mine on my father's side.
This was interesting, because D's mother, H, was Irish, and died very young when he was a child, and nobody in the family knew much about her.
In the usual way, given that both T and myself are family history researchers, although neither of us is directly connected, we both set about finding out about the family.
In short, it turned out that D's mother, H, was born in 1925. However, her "father", was well known in the family to have "died in the war", by which was meant the first world war. The family were all highly respected Catholics, living in Ireland.
We found the death source - sure enough, it was in 1917. But nobody in the family seemed to notice the HUGE anomaly, which explained why H's birth reference had been so difficult to track down. Eventually I found her, under her mother's maiden surname.
T and I were quite worried about the implications of our discovery, particularly on the Irish Catholic side of the family. But HC is apparently "very vague about dates", even though one of the possibilities includes her own mother (aged 15 in 1925) being the parent of H.
It's amazing what you can just refuse to notice, if you set your mind to it.
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At least these fathers actually registered the birth, even if the results were dire!
My great-grandfather went to register the birth of one of his sons. When he got there, the (part time) register office was shut, so he went away (probably to the pub, said my mother) and the boy was never registered. As an adult, this boy spent many years working for the LMS. When the time came for him to retire, he couldn't prove his age, so he had to write to his sister, my grandmother, and she had to go to the vicar. The vicar then wrote to the LMS affirming the date of his baptism from the PR. The family had had a sort of 'mass baptism' of the children from a babe in arms up to about the age of 11. I'm not sure whereabouts in that my great-uncle came, but he certainly wasn't a new-born baby, so whether he had to wait for his retirement, I don't know.
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Having only started my tree a few weeks ago I'm finding it difficult as so many people seem to be using 2nd names, but one of the first people we looked for on my husband's side takes some beating.
He knew his great-grandmother as Alice Elizabeth <surname> or Liza, supposedly from London, with a sister Ada. We found Alice Elizabeth <surname> with a sister Ada, both right age, in Woolwich and got quite excited. Couldn't find a logical reason how she ended up in Wales though. Eventually tracked her down as Margaret Alice Eliza <surname> born in Cheshire. ::)