Genealogy Chat

I am certainly learning a lot from genealogy, I would never in a million years think that Friend was a christain name, still not a day wasted. Sue

I have come across a child registered as 'male' who was recorded in the same quarter as dead, this time with a name. I assume the parents rushed in at the end of the six weeks registration period, too upset at the condition of the child to have decided the name, but thought they ought to have one for the funeral, since a name would have to be said by the officiating clergyman. 'Friend', by the way, is a perfectly good Christian name. I knew someone with that name, who died only a few years ago. Stan

On 1881 census I had a christian name listed as 'Friend' he was listed as the 8 year old son of the head of the household. I can't image a child was called 'friend', but why list him as such. Sue

Hi Simon, This is how the entry was listed in the register, I can only assume that this is a stillbirth or infant death soon after birth. If a transcriber cannot read a name the unreadable bits will appear as _ or *. Hope this helps, Rebecca

when you transcribe you only transcribe what you see. So if it says male or female thats what was written on orginal list. This could be for variety of reasons, myabe the child dies very soon after birth adn was never given a name, if so you may find a similar entry in the deaths section of maybe the parent simply couldn;t agree on the name LOL Shelli

The child was registered with no name unfortunately.

If Free BMD lists a birth with the first name 'Male' (or 'Female') does that mean that the transcriber couldn't read the name, or that the child was registered with no name ? Simon