> Which leads to the thought of legal requirements on > certificates in > listing a surname for a child where the parents do not have a > marriage certificate as it does not seem to be all that > uncommon for > parents to be living together and having children with a > variety of > surnames. Are the birth certificates for such named children > likely > to be in the register of corrected entries and how do they get > listed > on Scotlandspeople, is there any indication of a variety of > surnames for 1 person. An illegitimate child can only be registered under its father's surname if the father attends with the mother at the time of registration, and signs the birth certificate along with her. If he does not attend, even though he may acknowledge the child, the birth certificate will show only the mother's name. The father's surname does sometimes appear in the RCE if there has been a paternity case in which he has been found to be the father. In Scotland, the subsequent marriage of the parents of an illegitimate child legitimises the child without further action bein necessary on their part. However occasionally a couple who subsequently marry will re-register the birth, in which case the new surname will be in the indexes. > I have come across several cases where a child was named > Daniel on > the birth cert but is only ever called Donald by the family. > I have > a great uncle that I discovered was Daniel on his birth cert > after > years of looking for him as Donald. Yes, Donald/Daniel is quite common. Also Janet/Jessie, Peter/Patrick, Jane/Jean and others. For more detail about given names see www.whatsinaname.net Anne

Just one point of clarification to Anne's otherwise excellent post, an illegitimate child would only be legitimated if its parents subsequently married AND at the time of it's birth both parents were free to marry. So a child born in e.g. adultery could never be legitimated except by Crown prerogative, usually exercised by the granting of a private Act of Parliament. -----Original Message----- From: angus-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:angus-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Anne Burgess Sent: 13 July 2009 09:10 To: angus@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ANGUS] Morrison of Kirriemuir 1851 census > Which leads to the thought of legal requirements on > certificates in > listing a surname for a child where the parents do not have a > marriage certificate as it does not seem to be all that > uncommon for > parents to be living together and having children with a > variety of > surnames. Are the birth certificates for such named children > likely > to be in the register of corrected entries and how do they get > listed > on Scotlandspeople, is there any indication of a variety of > surnames for 1 person. An illegitimate child can only be registered under its father's surname if the father attends with the mother at the time of registration, and signs the birth certificate along with her. If he does not attend, even though he may acknowledge the child, the birth certificate will show only the mother's name. The father's surname does sometimes appear in the RCE if there has been a paternity case in which he has been found to be the father. In Scotland, the subsequent marriage of the parents of an illegitimate child legitimises the child without further action bein necessary on their part. However occasionally a couple who subsequently marry will re-register the birth, in which case the new surname will be in the indexes. > I have come across several cases where a child was named > Daniel on > the birth cert but is only ever called Donald by the family. > I have > a great uncle that I discovered was Daniel on his birth cert > after > years of looking for him as Donald. Yes, Donald/Daniel is quite common. Also Janet/Jessie, Peter/Patrick, Jane/Jean and others. For more detail about given names see www.whatsinaname.net Anne ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ANGUS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

<<snipped>> legal requirements on certificates in listing a surname for a child where the parents do not have a marriage certificate ... <<snipped>> FYI - Unless I'm mistaken there has never been a requirement to produce a proof of marriage certificate when registering a birth. (Mark Herber says something similar in "Ancestral Trails".) Having said that, Scots birth certificates do state the date and place of marriage and I note that the current Dundee registrar's site says "If the parents are married to each other, it would be helpful to take their marriage certificate when the birth is to be registered". However, "helpful" sounds like they can't enforce it and if someone says something about their "marriage", I imagine it would have to be taken as truth. All comments gratefully accepted! <<snipped>> register of corrected entries and how do they get listed on Scotlandspeople, <<snipped>> Presence of an RoCE entry is noted on the original and it is now linked from the original on ScotlandsPeople - so if there isn't a link or a note on the scan, then, bureaucratic errors excepted, there isn't an RoCE. Adrian B

> FYI - Unless I'm mistaken there has never been a requirement > to produce a > proof of marriage certificate when registering a birth. That is absolutely right. Anne