Genealogy Chat

I have already come across a few ancestors who have changed the order of their forenames over the years and used a variation that is not the name they were born with on their marriage certificate? I also know of a relative who is licing who has changed the spelling of his forename and has just married using this new variation. Does it matter??

I doubt it - most of my relatives have a different version for their birth, marriage and death certs! Besides, who is to say the right way of spelling a name? I have a Mealing family also recorded as Maling, Melins, Mealins etc. Who is to say what the right version is? nell

you are perfectly entitiled to call yourself by what ever name you like as long it is not for illegal purposes

Not at all, this sort of thing was not uncommon. Don't forget that many people were illiterate and the spelling of names was only as good as the interpretaition given by the registrar, priest or vicar. As for transposing first and second names then this still happens now.

Thank you for your replies, I agree it still happens now. In the case of the relative who has changed the spelling of his first name, but not by deed poll.... Should his marriage certificate have his birth name or does it not make a difference? And this is a marriage that took place very recently!

The marriage would be perfectly legal. Your relative wouldn't get very far if he tried to argue that he wasn't married because he didn't marry under his birth name. However, when it comes to his wife claiming a pension, the marriage certificate may have to be amended if the husband's national insurance details, bank accounts etc are in a different name.