When did I become me?

[Dennis]

I have my birth certificate which has the name I was given when I was born. However, I also have something called an 'Abbreviated Certificate of Birth' that shows my current surname in 1953; some 6 years after I was born in 1947. I wonder why I cannot obtain access to the 1951 census, which is the 1st one I would appear in, to see what my name was then as my mom and her husband were married by then (1949) and had a son in 1950. Is there an RCE for Abbreviated Certificate of Birth records?

dennis

[StewL]

The 1951 Census is not available due to the 100 year rule, currently it is not known if the records are even available, perhaps if you go to GROS personally you may be able to find what you are looking for. of course it would be easier to do, if you live near Edinburgh.

[Dennis]

Not that I live a stones throw from Edinburgh, but I guess that no information from the 1951 census is available to anyone as it is probably still in the same untabulated format as when it was collected. I'm just gonna have to live a bit longer

[carolineasb]

There used to be (and still may be!) a Court application/procedure for re-registration of a birth when the parents of a child subsequently marry after the birth. Is this possibly why you have 2 different birth certificates?

Why not apply for a full certificate to see if there is anything extra on it?? Does the abbreviated version ave any annotations about amendments at the bottom of the certificate?

[WilmaM]

Dennis everyone has an abbreviated birth certificate, it's the one that you get free when the birth is registered - you need to pay for the full one - which gives parents' names occupations etc.

I have a registry office receipt paid for by my grandfather that ties in with no year of birth, death or marriage of any of the family - I strongly suspect that it was for when they formally adopted their granddaughter.

[Dennis]

The birth certificate I have is one I ordered from ScotlandsPeople (has a big fonted 'ILLEGITIMATE' stamped on it') I was born in '47 at Homeland so I had the name I have today minus my current surname. Mom married a fella in '49 (not my biological dad) and they had a wee one in '50 baptized and named after mom's husband. The Abbreviated Certificate of Birth appears in 1953 and has my current name on it (was I adopted in 1953?) there's no mention of adoption on the ACB. I'm just curious about what I was named in the 1951 census as, by then, my mom was married and had given her husband a son which he named after himself (Jr).

dennis

[WilmaM]

With those dates your Mother probably got a new BC for you before you started school with the name you'd been known as since her marriage.

Rest Assured Dennis you have been you right from the word GO - what we or anyone else calls us is immaterial.

[carolineasb]

Hi there,

No changes can be made to an original registration except without some sort of application to GROS or usually by an application granted by a Court (i.e. adoption or re-registration of birth). In the case of adoption (and possibly re-registration of birth) the original birth registration will have some sort of annotation on it stating that this has happened. I have seen a few registrations in my family tree where the child has been adopted and on the left hand side of the registration there is either a stamp or handwritten note stating "Adopted" along with reference numbers. There is then another birth certificate issued for the child by Order of the Court and this cannot be seen on-line.

If there is nothing marked on the registration from 1947 and that is different to the certificate that you have dated 1953, I would contact Scotlands People/GROS to ask for an explanation.

Carolineasb

[paddyscar]

Hi Dennis:

What about school records? You would originally been registered as Dennis 'Atbirth'. There may be some record that would indicate a change of name to Dennis 'Afterwedding' in the year of your Mother's marriage, or at the beginning of the next year's registration, or with a change of schools, if you had moved following the wedding.

If you were raised in a church that allowed children to receive Holy Communion, such as the Catholic Church, there would have been an associated record which might give an indication of the surname being used at that time.

Frances