Genealogy Chat

I'm not an expert but this is what I believe happens after reading other posts and checking out the birth indexes. Say a child is originally registered in the mothers name in 1965 it will appear on the birth index in the mother's surname at that time. If there are any changes after the original registration... like adding the father's name in say September 1969 it will be 'registered' again at the time it happened. However, on the original birth index page there should be a 'see S 69'... this if a reference to go to September 1969 when the father's name was put on the register. The child will then be seen on the birth index in both mother's and father's surnames... don't forget to scroll down to the bottom of the page for hand written notes. Hope you understand all this :-) Cheers Gerry

Well any additions made to certs should be on the cert when you order it usually with a note made by the registrar of the date of the correction/addition etc. For example on my partners side we have a death cert for a William Dishman - but originally the registrar spelt his surname Wesham. A year later the registrar put a note on the cert that Wesham was incorrect and should read Dishman. Therefore I assume most corrections are done on the cert itself - unless the parents in this case (or others) have decided to re-register the child to legitimise it - as after the Legitimacy Act was passed in 1934 couples who married after having children could re-register their children under the married surname to legitimise it all. As for not knowing the child's name it could prove difficult unless you know the surname - and its not a common one and to look for a mothers maiden name being the same as the surname of the child - if they were illegitimate. This can be done for births after Sept Q of 1911 by using findmypast dot com or using the same info on Ancestry. Regards Alex

If a father has his name added to a birth certificate well after the birth is registered, is this a matter of public record, and can it be traced if you do not know the child's name?