Birth registration 1930s - 1959

[Stuie1]

Good morning,

I am looking for a little bit of advice on a matter relating to registering births.
On my Mothers and her 6 other siblings’ birth certificates, their birth mothers name is different to her actual real name. However the father’s name is correct.
I have done a BDM check and I cannot seem to find anyone with that name.
Does anyone know how common this would have been from late 1930’s to 1959 to ‘fake’ a name when registering a birth? I would have though official documentation would have had to be shown?
I can't see anyone getting away with it these days.

Many thanks in anticipation

Kind regards
Stuie1   

[Marmalady]

You can call yourself whatever you want, so long as it isnt with intent to commit fraud -- so there isnt (even now) a "legal name"

And no checks were / are made into the mothers name when registering the birth -- the registrar just wrote down what s/he was told

[Stuie1]

Thank you 

[dawnsh]

Hi Stuie1

What's the difference between the name on the cert and the name she was known by?

Dawn

[Stuie1]

Hi Dawn,
Thanks for replying
There is a major difference. The name on the birth certificates is Janet but her 'real' name was Vera.
The surnames are different too.

[Nettie]

Who was the informant? Was It the father rather than the mother?
A couple of possibilities. 1) She was named Vera at birth but had always been called Janet. It happens a lot that the child has always been called another name than what they were baptised. 2) Vera / Janet's surname changed with either a prior marriage or the remarriage of her mother at some stage.

[dawnsh]

Have you got the correct birth certs  ?

[Plummiegirl]

My mother was known as Rita all her life, I was 14 before I found out her real name was Julia

My ex m.i.l. was known as Mary, her real name was Louisa.  Was married for quite some time before I found out.

And those are the 2 in my tree in my own memory.  However, I have found many more women (mainly) whose birth name bears little or not resemblance to that which they are known as on Census returns etc. 

 

[jim1]

Have you found a marriage cert. for your Grandparents?