Have a family whose name was changed but nothing legal for a name change can I find. Christina SARGENT b.1845....... married 1868 Evan DAVIS b. 1847 They had two children. Christiana Elizabeth DAVIS. b. 1869 Arthur Evan DAVIS b. 1870 Evan DAVIS died 1870 and Christina remarried 1873 Thomas CAMERON b. 1848 They had two children Hannah CAMERON b. 1874 Thomas CAMERON b. 1876 When Thomas married Christina he insisted her two children use the name CAMERON, thought no papers can be found to say they did in fact change their names. When Christiana Elizabeth got married in 1897 to Arthur JENNINGS, she used the name DAVIS. When Arthur Evan DAVIS got married 1922 to Maud Ellen Gertrude ARNARD (nee COOPER) (my great aunt), he used the name CAMERON and all the descendants from then have used the name CAMERON. According to family information, Arthur was a bit of a rogue, he used both names, depending what he was doing, he joined the Navy at a very young age, was champion boxer for the Navy, all of which I can no reference or information about. If any one has this family in their tree and has more information about how you can just use another name, boxing or Navy records, I would love to hear from them. Pam.....NZ

Hi Pam Under English common law, a person has the right to call themselves whatever they choose, provided there is no fraudulent intent. Moreover, children taking on their stepfather's name was common practice and convenient as it meant they had the same surname as their mother. It was equally normal for these children to quote their "birth name" (i.e their natural father's name) when marrying. Do you have evidence of Mr CAMERON "insisting" that they use it against their will? Hope this helps Caroline Sent from my iPad On 18 Jul 2012, at 05:30, "LittleMiracles" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > If any one has this family in their tree and has more information about how you can just use another name, boxing or Navy records, I would love to hear from them. > > Pam.....