Genealogy Chat

If someone changes their surname officially is there a mention of this in the BMD details please. Irene

I think it might depend on where you are and what the situation is. My parents split when I was small. My mother became involved in another relationship, and they had three children together. However, because she and my father had never divorced she couldn't marry. Instead she legally changed her name to take her new partners. When I applied for her birth cert, I used her birth name. However when the cert arrived it had her under her new name, with both her parents listed as you would normally find. this was in Victoria, Australia. elsewhere the process may be different. Rebs x

occasionally somebody will have themselves named in a register as 'John Smith otherwise Jones' and the cert will then be indexed twice, under Smith and under Jones apart from that, the registrars don't know anything about name changes

Thank you both for your kind replies - I am talking about an offical name change in the 1920's in England so wondered if there would be a mention of this anywhere. Regards Irene

my rellie changed his name in the 1860s but he and all the family are registered with the new surname and no mention of the fact it was changed , dont know whether it would be different in the 1920s though

Irene, are you referring to someone who has legally changed their name by deed poll or someone who simply decided to be known by a different name by their own account?

Rebs - it was changed by deed poll. Thank you for your kind reply. Irene