Genealogy Chat

My mother's maiden name was entered incorrectly on her marriage certificate--Carey instead of Casey.This is also repeated on the BMD records (no wonder I could'nt find it easily.)How difficult is it to correct this? The marriage took place in the late 1930's, 100 miles from where I now live. Both parents are dead. Thank you .

I'm not sure if you could correct it - you might be able to send a note to the local registrar to let them know there could be an error and ask them to check. Perhaps it is a misinterpretation of the original writing - I could imagine an "r" being mistaken for an "s" in certain types of handwriting.

If it was a church wedding there will probably be a copy of the marriage record held in the church records as well as a marriage certificate, so you might be able to check it against that.

It may be possible to correct it, although as both the parties married are no longer living it would require special permission from The Registrar General. You will require proof of the use of the name CASEY at the time of the marriage. A birth certificate would probably not be sufficient. Talk to the Superintendent Registrar at the office local to where the marriage took place.

My grandmothers birth cert says Constant Ruby sex boy. My other grandmother Florence Mary instead of May.
A death cert transcribed as Mary and when I received it I realised it was Mercy. I only ordered it because of the unusual surname.( Also mistranscribed). It was a baby so confirmed by her birth the previous year.
Wrong names on certs seem to be more common than you think. If I have found 3 in my family there must be plenty of others which are also wrong.

Just remembered, I had noted down some time ago a baby in my tree christened as Edith Elizabeth Atkinson Grayson (she was apparently illegitimate and the daughter of my great-great aunt Maggie). I looked and looked for a marriage, but couldn't find one.

Then it occurred to me that since she was born in 1906 it was reasonable to suppose she had died after 1984, so I looked for Edith born on the correct birthday and found the death record. Edith had never married but her death was registered just as Edith Grayson - presumably nobody knew her middle names or she just didn't use them.

I have a gr grandmother as Emmeline on her birth certificate but Emily on her marriage and death certs. As she couldn't write I presume the vicar misheard and her daughter used the marriage cert info to register her death. I also have gr gr grandfather and his eldest son transcribed on two census' as Lous instead of Lewis. Took lots of searching before I found that one!!

It can't be changed

I was reading an article in my magazine where the registrar misheard what she was being told and registered this lady's little boy as a girl....Cos the mum had left the premises before she notice they couldn't change it...so they had to put a note to say it was registered wrong

Is the marriage on freebmd yet? If so, you could add a postem noting the correct name. Then, anyone else searching in the future could see the correction if they look at the postem.

Sorry I do not think you can change it. My gt.gt.gradmother had her name spelt wrong and I even sent a copy of her birth certificate to confirm her right details to the registrar but was told they can only copy what is written on the original certificate so it remains misspelt. Irene

Regardless of some of the items above, The Registrar Generals Office has a section called 'Corrections and Re-registrations' and guess what, they deal with corrections to BMD entries which were spotted after the informant left the building.
Do please talk to your local Register Office. Because of the length of time, it may not be possible, but please check with them.

The original record always stands but a correction note can be added.

My own original marriage certificate is correct, but the registrar misread the minister's hand writing and both our surnames were mis-transcribed by the GRO and therfore indexed incorrectly.

I emailed the GRO with the details and they have now added a correction note to the register. It took about six months from the time I first emailed them.

Thanks to all respondants for your help and comments--I will pursue this because the one letter error not only changes the name completely, but it may cause much trouble for future family research, should my efforts be lost in the mists of time. Cheers !

I also meant to add that the GRO pointed out that any indexes already published by sites such as Ancestry or Find my Past will not reflect the change.

Hi my grandfather birth cert has his own name as father instead of the correct one, the father signed it without checking. Because grt grandad sign the cert. I contacted GRO and they have said that without other proof such as marriage (which I do have with correct parentage on it) and the baptism form (which we don,t have because he wasnt baptised) and other documents from that period (what they could be i,m not sure) they will not correct it.