Baptismal name

[Muggins in Sussex]

A friend ( who usually knows what he is talking about!), told me recently that he recalled having read about an instance where a baby was baptised with a forename name which was different from that on the birth certificate, and that as a result, the registrar had to amend the birth certificate.

I've Googled, and this doesn't seem possible with C of E baptims - but is there a mechanism for this to happen in other religions?

Also, do the parents have to produce a birth certificate when a baby is baptised?

If not, and if the baby is baptised before the birth is registered, does the registration have to be in the baptismal name ?

Thanks

[Merry]

This is from the certificate tutorials website regarding column 10 on a birth cert:

Column 10 - Name Given After Initial Registration

This is for the entry of a name given after initial registration. This relates to the fact that before civil registration, the recording of the major life events was in the hands of the church and especially of course of the established church (Church of England). There was tremendous resistance to civil registration by the established church who felt (rightly as it happened) that people would stop baptising their children if they had an alternative piece of legal paper in a civil registration. And the church had had the power and responsibility for centuries.

If a child was registered without a forename and was then baptised, or if a child was registered with forenames that were changed at baptism - because baptism was in place before civil registration and was considered more important - then the facility was given to change the first names (but NOT the surname). These days the baptism must take place within one year of the date of registration but the alteration can be made to the register at any time once the baptism has been completed.

The importance of this is that very often a child had a name changed by baptism but the civil registration was not corrected. That means that the name used by the child will not match the indexes, which are amended if a space 10 correction is made. At baptism the names may be altered in order, changed in spelling, new ones put in, names taken out or changed totally. These days there is a facility for names to be changed without baptism because of course many people are of other faiths or do not go to church.

[Muggins in Sussex]

Thanks Merry - that's very interesting

Do you think that " because baptism was in place before civil registration and was considered more important - then the facility was given to change the first names (but NOT the surname)" means that the facility was given to the registrar? -

Also does anyone know what this bit means -" that the name used by the child will not match the indexes, which are amended if a space 10 correction is made" ?

[kiterunner]

Do you think that " because baptism was in place before civil registration and was considered more important - then the facility was given to change the first names (but NOT the surname)" means that the facility was given to the registrar? - It means the registrar was allowed to add the baptismal name to the birth certificate, yes.

Also does anyone know what this bit means -" that the name used by the child will not match the indexes, which are amended if a space 10 correction is made" ? It is saying that if the parents have the child baptised with a different name and don't bother going back to the register office to have the new name added to the birth certificate, then obviously the baptismal name will not be on the GRO index, and so if the child is known by their baptismal name, then the name they are known by will not match the index. If the parents did go back to the registrar and have the baptismal name added to the certificate then the baptismal name should also be added to the index.

[Muggins in Sussex]

Thank you, Kite :)

[anne fraser]

My father was born in September 1918 and registered as James Wilton. However when he was christened in November 1918 the vicar added Victor as a middle name to his baptism entry. His birth certificate was never altered and my dad hated the name Victor which he did not use.

[Uncle John]

Someone in my tree in the 1880s was registered with one set of names. Column 10 gives a completely different set of names, from when the father's family took her away from her mother, who was by that time "seeing" someone else.

[Olde Crone]

And did you know that you cannot legally change your baptismal name, at least as far as the church is concerned. If you were baptised Ermyntrude, then Ermyntrude you are till you die. (Officially - but they can't stop your friends calling you Bubbles, or whatever!)

OC

[Uncle John]

I know that I was baptised (my non-church parents did it under the watchful eye of his aunt) but I have not the foggiest idea where.

[Jill]

OH's granny was furious with her husband for forgetting the name they had agreed on and registering his daughter as Betty in 1927. She was later baptised as Beryl as her mother wished and was known as this all her life, but married as Betty. Beryl is the name which appears in the burial register at the church where her ashes are interred.

[marquette]

OH's granny was furious with her husband for forgetting the name they had agreed on and registering his daughter as Betty in 1927. She was later baptised as Beryl as her mother wished and was known as this all her life, but married as Betty. Beryl is the name which appears in the burial register at the church where her ashes are interred.

I can't remember what we agreed to call her - something begining with B....
"Betty ?" suggested the Registrar ..... yes, that must be it !!

Di