In a message dated 18/08/2007 20:13:05 GMT Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Hi, Regarding a birth certificate, in the "name and surname of father" box the registrar started writing the mother's name "Jan", (mother's name was Jane), and put a line through it and the number 23. On the right of the last box on the right he wrote "Twenty three J.E." JE being his initials. Was this simply to confirm that he, the Registrar, had made the mistake or that there is another list somewhere giving an explanation for no father's name being listed, or some other reason entirely? Any help will be greatly appreciated, thank you, Lynne. Lynne: It was just the registrar explaining the crossing-out, admitting his mistake and quoting regulation no 23, which allowed him to make the alteration. The usual reason for no father's name being listed is that the father was either unknown or else the man thought to be responsible had not admitted paternity. In other words the child was illegitimate. Unless there was a court case over the paternity (unlikely unless large amounts of money were at stake) you will not find the putative father's name anywhere else. It could well be that not even the mother ever knew his name! Geoff Nicholson