Genealogy Chat

Hi all

My partner born in 1945 was registered with the surname of his mothers husband. In fact, his father was not his mother's husband. He was raised by his mother's brother and has his mmn as a surname. This change of name happened in his childhood, he does not have any documentary evidence of this. How come he was able to obtain a passport and marry with the second surname? There is no comment on the original registration on freeBMD.

Many thanks

Christine

A person can use any name they wish as long as it is not for an illegal activity.

Until fairly recently, it wasn't necessary to prove your identity before marrying.

In all likelihood, he or his foster parents/mother would have needed to send in his BC to obtain his first passport & state on the forms what other surnames he'd ever used or been known by.
Once the first PP has been issued, they don't ask for additional documentation to renew it.

Was he registered in his mother's maiden name as well as her married name?

Thank you DetEcTive, that explains why we can't find a birth certificate with his current surname. RR - I checked that, but no he wasn't. Father unknown, unfortunately. Only a first name and thought to possibly be an American serviceman, so not much chance of finding out who he is :-(

Well if it was the mother registering the birth she would register it in her current surname . This doesn't mean her husband is the father if he isn't named as such on the cert

Maybe then his foster parents decided it was better he didn't carry the surname of a person who wasn't his father so reverted to his mums maiden name

does he appear on the GRO records under his mums maiden name too .?

Look for his name but with his mother's husband's surname. It'll probably be there.

Thank you all for your help. Christine

Really, b.certs aren't necessarily related to the child's name.
English b.certs don't ask for the child's surname - they do ask for the name & surname of the father, and for the name and maiden surname of the mother..
They do ask for the child's name, IF ANY, and normally a forename(s) is entered.
However, the legal requirement is that the birth be registered, not that the child be named, and there are abt 7500 births in the 1940s where FreeBMD lists the forename as either Male or Female.

As indicaed by DetEcTive, under English common law, all that is necessary for a legal change of name is that the person begins using their new name, and that this is not done for fraudulent purposes. In the case of minors, it is the parent or guardian who decides this.

theoretically a child can be known by either surname if the parents arent married and even if a father is named

any birth cert just names the child and the parents names . if a father is named it is assumed that they are married unless at time of reg they admit they arent

we have instances in my family and one child uses the fathers surname and another uses the mums maiden name

My two step-sons have used my surname for the last 35 years with no problems. They have a letter signed by themselves and a solicitor to this effect, and the only time they needed it was for their first passports. Their sons share the same surname as their father's name on their birth certs is the one they use. I have added them to my family tree by showing their (my stepson's) father as my wife's first husband and carrying on downwards.