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  • change of name

    something that has always gone unanswered in my family is why my dad and his 4 siblings are registered under one surname but 3 of them claimed to be from a different father so used his name to marry. When my dad died the registrar questioned my mum about it so he put both surnames on the death certificate.
    Today when I had backing from 2 cousins we asked the last remaining sibling and he said that his mother had seen a solicitor and it was alright for them to use the 2nd surname but surely there would have been some paper work. Would there not be a register somewhere when people change their names?

  • #2
    I think I am right is saying that if the father wasn't there when the children were registered if not married to their mother the registrar couldn't put his name on the certificate.

    With that in mind I presume the mother would have to use her surname and if she was married to someone else her maiden name as well.

    Don't know if I have explained that very well but hope you understand it.
    Lin

    Searching Lowe, Everitt, Hurt and Dunns in Nottingham

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    • #3
      It has always been acceptable to be known by any name one chooses so long as no fraud is involved/intended. Some people choose to change their name by deed poll but it is not a legal requirement.
      Judith passed away in October 2018

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      • #4
        yes but what we don't understand is how they got married under a different surname hen usually you need proof of who you are unless it was different back then

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        • #5
          You don't, or didn't, need proof of identity to marry. In English/Welsh law, your name is what you say it is on the day you are asked.

          There has never been any " legal" surname. It is only in the last 50 years or so that there has even been a column on the birth certificate for the surname of a child. It has always been traditional that a child takes its father's surname and that a woman takes her husband's surname, but that's all it is, tradition. It is not law.

          OC

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          • #6
            I didn't have to show any ID to prove my identity, nor did my OH, when we married in Cheshire in 1967.
            My grandmother, on the beach, South Bay, Scarborough, undated photo (poss. 1929 or 1930)

            Researching Cadd, Schofield, Cottrell in Lancashire, Buckinghamshire; Taylor, Park in Westmorland; Hayhurst in Yorkshire, Westmorland, Lancashire; Hughes, Roberts in Wales.

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            • #7
              I always think this is a good example of what names you can use etc without proving anything and I have the certs etc. Also, a few years ago, I found a very old lady who remembered it all too.

              Martha Preddy was born on 7-8-1877. When she was 5 weeks old her mother did a moonlight flit and (not together) so did her father who took the two older children with him. Next door lived the Spencer family and the father heard the baby crying and as the door was open he took the baby and he and his wife ‘adopted’ her as their own, but they thought she was born Martha Preedy.
              Sometime between 1891 and 1900 she took herself off to Blackpool and got a job as a waitress in a hotel/inn calling herself Nora Spencer. On 25-10-1900 she gave birth to a son in Blackpool and on the birth cert she gave her name as Nora Preedy, formerly Spencer, married to a John Preedy. So of course the child was given the name Preedy. On the 1901 census though his name is Spencer, living with his mother Nora Spencer.
              By 1904 she was back in her hometown having a baby and living with Harry Smith as Martha Smith, his ‘wife’. Harry was also in Blackpool as Henry Smith in 1901 working as a barman) I have never found a marriage for them. They went on to have another child in 1909 and the birth certs of the two children both give their names as Smith, with father Harry Smith and mother Martha Smith, formerly Spencer.
              Chrissie passed away in January 2020.

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              • #8
                Surnames for the child are not shown on birth registrations (at all) before 1969. The only surnames shown are those of the mother and father (if he is named). The entry is then indexed under one or both of those surnames according to the marital status of the parents.
                Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
                Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR

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                • #9
                  Antony, can you help us understand when and why the bride and groom had to prove who they were and their status? I certainly didn't have to in 1969(!) but my son is getting married next week and they definitely did have to provide full evidence. Thanks
                  Anne

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                  • #10
                    Proof of ID is now part of the government hysteria ( in my view) over the prevention of terrorism ( and money laundering) and is a relatively new thing in the last 20 years or so. I don't think it prevents terrorism,and it puts innocent people to a great deal of inconvenience.

                    OC

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                    • #11
                      Significant proof of ID, residence and nationality is now required to marry as OC says, mainly in response to the high incidence of sham marriages in some areas.
                      Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
                      Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR

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                      • #12
                        Thanks. Do you have a date or rough idea of when it became required?
                        Anne

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                        • #13
                          I suspect it has been a gradual thing brought in over a long period, but mostly quite recently. You would have to source and go through different editions of the instructions given to registrars by GRO over the years to see exactly was was to be asked for at different times.
                          Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
                          Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR

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                          • #14
                            Thanks, Antony!
                            Anne

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