Birth registration query..

[Darksecretz]

If a mother had a child/children from a second marriage, would they be registered in her present name, or her actual maiden name?

what I mean is if a woman was nee Butler, but married a Guy, then he dies and she married a Wood, then she had children with the Wood, then would the name in the indexes be a child with the mmn of Butler? or Guy?

[moulie11]

I think it could vary. Though we would naturally expect the maiden name to be recorded as Butler, surely it would be whichever she decided to say? Wouldn't it come back to the old "the information is only as reliable as the informant" idea?

[Just Mandy]

I agree with moulie Julie - it could be either of them!

[ozgirl]

I have one where the child is from the mother's 3rd marriage, and on the birth cert. it states Mothers name as Hannah Johnson, late Mills, previously Jacques, formerly Hewitt, with Hewitt being the maiden name.

Linda

[Darksecretz]

hmmn, I see what you mean Moulie. She does marry giving her name as Guy, (and not as formerly Butler) all it states on the marriage is someone had begun to write single, and then overwrote it with widow.

[moulie11]

Yes, that was the other thing I was going to mention...that it may simply state "Guy formerly Butler" or something similar. But blimey Linda, what a mouthful that is in your example!! I haven't seen one like that yet.

[Blackberry]

It should be the maiden name shown in the index, ie the name in which she first married. (Which is usually - but not always - her birth name.) This cannot change, so is unaffected by any subsequent marriages.

[moulie11]

By the way, when I say it could be "Guy formerly Butler", obviously I didn't mean it would say that in the index but it may well do on the actual birth certificate. In terms of the index, I've seen quite a few cases (but usually for marriages) where there are two entries - one with her maiden name and one with her former married name.

[Darksecretz]

thanks Moulie,

thats very interesting Blackberry, and it does make alot of sense. :D

[Deb N]

My ggm alternated her name!!! one birth would have MMN as Emo (her real maiden name) and the next one would have Langrish (her first marriage's name). I have no idea why!! Even when she wed for the second time she claimed to be a spinster and wed in her married name of Langrish - even changed her fathers name to Samuel Langrish (not Emo!!)

[Darksecretz]

oh gawd Deb! that is just SO annoying.. even with this information I cant see any likely births for my Harriet Butler (Guy, Wood).. I sorta hoped that she might have had more children after 1911 so I could pick them out, she might have had more between 1900 (when her last daughter was born) and 1911 but as you can imagine Wood isnt exactly a rare name.

[Blackberry]

I sympathise as I have two separate lots of Wood in my tree, one on each side! Where are yours from, is there any mileage in an enquiry to the local register office? Some of them are very helpful. If you write to them with all the info you have, they might do a search for you.

[Darksecretz]

hi again Blackberry, my Woods hail from Arnold in Nottingham. I suspect that the local office would help me in my quest as I have had alot of dealings with them in the past.

I have this Wood connection now on both sides of my tree, as my gt grandfather was a Wood and it was his brother that married Harriet Guy (nee Butler) (but the Guys and the Woods inter marry earlier on!!) as Annie Guy married George Wood in 1893...lol. (Annie was Harriets SIL before she married William, Georges bro)