Genealogy Chat

Jill - what you discovered was your hubby was registered once under two different names, and so indexed twice, once under each surname.
What you should have been told was that no matter when the birth took place, the index will always show the quarter of registration (or reregistration).

I presume you are buying the b.certs thru the GRO. The GRO holds no original BMDs for any statutory BMDs in England/Wales, just copies. Nowadays, one usually gets a b.cert showing the image of their copy. In pre-digital days, one got a copy of the GRO's copy. This was made up each time, and could be hand-written or type-written. The original B/D regos are held at the local office in the district where the event took place.
Original marr regos are more varied. CofE, quakers, jewish and non-conformist registers are usually deposited at the county records office or some other archive. Register office marrs and non-conformist marrs that the registrar attended are held at the local registers office.

Thanks everyone who responded to this. I have now received the new certificate - which incidentally is totally different from the first! The writing is so different, it makes you wonder if there were 2 Registrars at the time!
As Gwyn says, there is NO surname but the father's name and surname appear in the next column and both Father and Mother are then listed in the next column along. Their address was the same, and his Mum is listed under her married name (Copson) with her maiden name mentioned as well (Green).
BTW, his Mum is listed in the Electoral Roll of that same year as Johnson, even though (as previously mentioned) they never married.
Oh what a tangled web!!
Thanks again!

Until relatively recently, there was no column for recording a child's surname, ...It was implied by the father's name, if he was named.
If he was unmarried but went to the registation and acknowledged the child, all well and good. His surname could be recorded.
If an unmarried mother went alone, the index would generally show her surname for the child's birth registration.

Gwyn

I would reckon it's a sort of cross-reference entry. As everybody else said, there is only one child and only one birth certificate but - with the parents not being married - I believe the father has to attend the registration or sign a declaration saying that he is the father otherwise the mother can only have her name put on the certificate. (That's what happened with mine.)

I've seen double entries quite a lot with double-barrelled surnames, too.

Gee! It's taken me over 60 years to work that one out! Thanks Kath! Who says all the best stories are with the ancestors - some of the living have a few explanations due, I'd say!!

Jill,

If your original birth certificate had no father's name on it then your father didn't go with your mother to the register office (in which case she couldn't put his name on it without a signed declaration from him). If he had gone with her he could have been named.

Kath. x

Wow! I didn't know all this! My own parents were married 2 years after my arrival and my orig birth cert has no father's name, even tho' I had his surname. When they married, 18 months later, I had a new birth cert issued with my Father's name on it and a notation to one side re-directing the reader to my original birth entry.

So I guess it does happen, but I was just a bit baffled as to the two registrations at the same time. I didn't think it was "allowed". I thought if the father recognised the child, it went down under his name anyway - we're talking 1936 here, guys! You could still be sued for adultery in those days and there was no such thing as a "no-fault divorce" and the co-respondent may have had to pay compensation to the aggrieved party. OK, maybe not for "the plebs", but certainly in the upper echelons!

Its just the one certificate but the child could take either surname so thats why its shown under both, One of my grt grandchildren is shown like this and the parents weren't married but the dad acknowledged he was the father and attended the registration with the mum. they weren't living together when the child was born,but this didnt matter both parents attended the registration of their child

Youll just be getting a duplicate birth certificate as you already have.,,they are one of the same in these cases.

Both of my children are down twice 1 under my surname & 1 under their Dads

On their B/C they are down under their dads surname which is their given surname

If we were to marry a reference will be made by their birth index number and they will be registered again after we married.

With refs to your husband being registered in the next qtr you have up to 6 weeks to register a birth

I have a feeling that I have heard that there will only be one certificate - probably in the father's name, as by registering the birth together the mother is acknowledging that the father IS actually the father.

I'm prepared to stand corrected on this though as I'm not 100% certain.

Kath. x

This exact scenario cropped up on here yesterday.

A member was looking for a relative'sbirth - the records showed that the child's birth had been recorded in the index under the surnames of each of his parents - both showing the same MMN, and with the same GRO refs.

And the GRO index shows when the event was registered - not when it took place. When the register is closed at the end of the quarter, they can't add retrospective entries

Hi Jan

Whopping coincidence if it is 2 different people! But I have sent for the second (Mother's name) cert so will know for sure if it is the same person!
As we are in Australia, it could take a while!!

BTW, the parents were living together at the time of his birth, and his Mum did unofficially take his Dad's name, but neither the relationship nor the name change lasted!

Is it really normal though? If they registered the birth together, then wouldn't the child have one reg. with cert stating father's name?
Maybe mother registered him first as she was unmarried and then the father wished him to take his name. I don't know if this is possible though!
Would love to know.
Jill - no chance this is a co-incidence and they are different people?

Jan

It's also quite normal to have two birth entries under both the mother's name and the father's name if they were not married and both of them went to register the child together.

Kath. x

I have just discovered that my husband was registered twice! The birth cert he has is under his Father's name, but then I found another registration under his Mother's name (they weren't married!)

Also he was born on March 7th but both registrations are under the Apr-May-Jun Quarter. I was told that no matter when a child is actually registered, the Indeces will always show the correct quarter - or is this just in a perfect world??