Certificate of naming ....

[ChalfontR]

Regarding the question about name changes after registration in the latest newsletter, such a change was known as a "column 10 amendment" ( now "space 17").

The original 1836 B&D Act only talks about change of name after baptism (s24), but s8 of the later 1874 Act specifically also covers the same procedure when the child is not baptised and in that case requires a certificate signed by the parents. The form is shown in the schedules to the Act, and attached below. It is possible the process was changed before 1874 by instruction sent out to registrars from the registrar general, and then later incorporated in to the Act.

The heading on certificates doesn't seem to have changed to reflect that for some time - I have examples of birth certificates from 1898 and 1928, and issued at that time, which both still just refer to "baptismal name if added after registration" in the heading of column 10.

If you order a C19th birth certificate from GRO now, the column will just be headed "name entered after registration" i.e. not the wording that would have appeared on a certificate issued at the time of registration.

 

[peter]

Thanks - the change in the wording on the birth certificate didn't change until the 1950s, possibly following the 1953 Act, although the Act itself doesn't specify the format.

So far LostCousins members have found 1952 and earlier birth certificates with the old wording and 1953 and later certificates with the new wording - however it's quite likely that they would have continued using up the old stock so that the actual change would have taken place at different times in different districts. (Although, given the risk of theft, I suspect that minimal stocks are held.)

There are PDF copies of the (presumably) current change of name forms on the Surrey County Council website:

Baptism

Other

Both forms refer to the Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987. One of the other counties I checked suggested that two forms are required in the event of a name change upon baptism, and I need to look into that further.

 

[ChalfontR]

For clarity ..... the change of name needs to have happened within 12 months of the original registration but the change to the register can be made at any time later. If the application is made after 12 months, then the parents would be asked to supply evidence that the changed name was in use for the child within the 12 month timeframe.

A simple change of spelling of a forename would not usually come under this process - that would normally be dealt with as a correction. If the the birth is re-registered, perhaps because the parents later married, then that is another different procedure which can also mean a change of name, and with its own process.