Why and when did he change his name ?

[dutch missmarple]

Hi all,

I have a question which may not be easy to answer, but here it is:

Oscar John Thomas Halls, born as an ill. child 1877 Woodford Essex
census 1881 Oscar JT Halls with grandma and mum (Jane Maria Halls).
census 1891 OscarJ Windley (mum had married John Thomas Windley in 1882).
census 1901 Oscar J. Halls again (married Gertrude Broomer in 1899)

Oscar had a brother (also ill.) James William Windley

Oscar at some time decided he wanted to be a Halls again whilst james decided to remain a Windley.

So my question is: Is there somewhere a record to be found which states the reason why Oscar wanted to be a Halls or James wanted to be a Windley.
I have James'birth cert. only mentioning the mother. He is bapt. as Halls.

thank you for your time.

Dutch MissMarple

[KGarrad]

Under the laws of England & Wales, a person can call themselves anything they like!
Just as long as there is no intention to deceive or defraud.

[dutch missmarple]

So this wouldn't have been recorded anywhere ?
Oscar just decided to call himself Halls and James decided to call himself Windley ?

DMM

[Galium]

Oscar is still only 13 in 1891, and it is most likely that his step-father filled in the census return. So he is recorded with the name his step-father and mother chose to use for him.
If he later decided that he preferred his mother's name, that might be because he did not have a friendly relationship with his step-father, or perhaps because he knew this man was not his father and thought that it would be wrong to use his name.

[KGarrad]

So this wouldn't have been recorded anywhere ?
Oscar just decided to call himself Halls and James decided to call himself Windley ?

DMM

Precisely!

[Marmalady]

One of my husbands ancestors was illegitimate but registered in his fathers name.
On the next two censuses he was living with his paternal grandparents but entered with his mothers surname
He married under his mothers name but after that uses both names interchangeably

In adulthood some of his children used one name and some the other wjth no pattern or correlation between names at registration, at baptism or name used later in life

[dutch missmarple]

too bad, that means I'll probably never find out why they didn't use the same name. 
Well, on to solving other family mysteries then.

thank you for your time !

DMM