unknown christian name

[Poppy62]

My apologies if i have asked this before.

Does anyone know why some births are recorded as unknown in  Irish birth records. I have come accross this  when searching some of my ancestors.

Is this because  the parents couldnt think of a name? for the child or did the child die at birth?

When searching my scottish ancestry I have never come across this. 

[stanmapstone]

FreeBMD has many births registered with the First Name shown as "Unknown" starting in 1838.

Stan

[Elwyn Soutter]

Some are neo-natal births but many were simply registered before a name had been agreed. (According to someone I spoke to in GRONI in Belfast it still occasionally happens today).

[Sinann]

Sometimes the name is added later, it will appear on the right hand side.

Sitting waiting in the local office I heard the staff member encouraging a young couple to choose a name now as it would save them a lot of hassle in the long run.

You will notice many of the Unknowns are from hospital births where the informant was a member of staff, I think in this case they simply registered bunches of births with out even trying to find out what the children's names were.

[stanmapstone]

In England & Wales a name given in Baptism can be added after the registration, so although no name is given in the column "Name if any" a baptismal name could be on the certificate but not shown in the index. There is a column at the end of the certificate "Baptismal Name if added after Registration of Birth". So many of these births registered with the First Name shown as "Unknown" would probably be named at the Baptism.

The 1836 Registration Act States;
XXIV. And be it enacted, That if any Child born in England whose Birth shall have been registered as aforesaid shall, within Six Calendar Months next after it shall have been so registered, have any Name given to it in Baptism, the parent or Guardian of such Child, or other Person procuring such Name to be given, may within Seven Days next after such Baptism, procure and deliver to the registrar or Superintendent Registrar, in whose Custody the Register of Birth of the Child may then happen to be, a Certificate, according to the Form of Schedule (G.) to this Act annexed, signed by the Minister who shall have performed the Rite of Baptism,

Stan

[Sinann]

Here is an example of a child's name added later
Number 422, second one down
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1901/01966/1758264.pdf

[Kiltaglassan]

You will notice many of the Unknowns are from hospital births where the informant was a member of staff, I think in this case they simply registered bunches of births with out even trying to find out what the children's names were.

As Sinann says, many were registered without a first name. Here's an example from Coomb hospital in 1888. The informant for every record was Mary Ann Thomas (present at the birth) of Coomb hospital.
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1888/02507/1929507.pdf

KG

[Viktoria]

I have a distant relative whose baby girl died some hours after a home birth.
It is sad to me that the little girl Is registered as born, and as died with just “Female”.
This was 1914, baby illegitimate , and mother showed no interest in the little soul.
How a woman ,married or not , can get to the end of a pregnancy and not have a name in mind for either a girl or boy, beats me.
Perhaps it is a sort of denial, especially in sad cases in the harshly judgemental times of yesteryear.
Viktoria.

[josey]

I don't think the registration with no forename necessarily means no name had been planned. My great grandparents had their first child in 1870. His baptism was booked & entered with a name into parish register - next to the entry on the same day of a cousin [daughter of his mother's brother]. He died aged 2 days, the baptism entry was crossed out unsigned by a minister. His birth was not registered but his death was - as 'Male' no name after a coroner's inquest. From the 1911 census I knew a child between censuses existed & I had found the parish register entry but only the GRO index with mother's maiden names & death certificate allowed me to confirm the this child belonged to the family.