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Original poster

How was I born on the wrong day?

370 replies

PossiblyDreaming · 06/03/2022 23:54

I’ve always thought I was born on a Sunday which always made me feel very smug as a child whenever I saw that nursery rhyme that goes “Monday’s child is fair of face” etc until it gets to Sunday’s child and says how much better kids born on a Sunday are.

Anyway, I was recently filling out some online form where I had to put in my date of birth and it came up on a calendar showing that actually I was born on a Monday. I double checked it with another calendar and, yes, I was definitely born on a Monday. I didn’t think much of it but text my mum to tell her as I thought it was mildly amusing that she’s forgotten when I was born.

Except my mum is 100% adamant that I was born on a Sunday. She remembers it specifically as she made my dad run to the church to drag my grandparents out so that they could watch my brother while he drove her to hospital. My grandparents only ever went to church on a Sunday and my dad was a teacher so if it had been a weekday he wouldn’t have been at home when my mum went into labour. It was mid October so wouldn’t have been a bank holiday. It wasn’t a long labour, I was born a couple of hours later so it wasn’t like my mum was labouring overnight and I was born the next day or anything.

My mum is 70 and fully compos mentis but she can’t get my dad or her parents to corroborate as they’re dead. She is absolutely adamant that I was born on Sunday and now thinks that my birthday was recorded incorrectly and it’s actually the day before the day that I’ve celebrated all my life 😂. I’ve got the original copy of my birth certificate and it says the date that I’ve always thought it was.

I know it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but it’s really odd. Is there any really obvious way that I’m missing that might confirm either way? Do I now celebrate my birthday the day before even though all my public records show it as being the next day?

OP posts:
underneaththeash · 08/03/2022 20:42

It's really odd - I put in DS's birthday into a calendar and his birth day came up as a Sunday! I could have sworn he wasn't born at the weekend (and he's only 15). I even asked DH and he too said that he'd been called back from work - which is impossible as his office didn't open at the weekend..........

Memories are odd - and often wrong.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 08/03/2022 20:57

[quote PossiblyDreaming]@NeverDropYourMooncup it’s Torbay. I was trying to be vague but I couldn’t think of anywhere further away than Plymouth 😂[/quote]
I think Exeter/the Southwest Heritage Trust might be worth trying, then?

And as there's a mention of church, there might be a baptismal record that shows the date of birth written down at a time where the parent booking was more likely to remember it? The RC church keeps exceedingly good records, for example.

Onthebrink87 · 08/03/2022 21:21

I've just had a look and according to Google, I was born on a Monday. Just checked with mother dearest who is wildly protesting (whilst tweezering her chin) that I was most definitely born on a Sunday!

What in the government related conspiracy theory is going on??! (My DM is only 55 and mostly all there)

Popsielady · 08/03/2022 21:28

Love the rhyme! I am now having lots of fun asking Alexa the DOB’s of everyone I know and seeing what day of the week they were born! Turns out I work hard for a living, my husband is fair of face, my sister is full of woe , my son is full of grace and my daughter has far to go! 😆😆

StellaEllaIsabella · 08/03/2022 21:36

I have to make an effort to remember DS was born on a Monday, because I spent all Sunday in labour, and missed church. My midwife was chatting to me about the church service she had been to in the morning. However, DS wasn't in a hurry and was born after midnight.

I'm sure that when I phoned my parents to say I was in labour, and about to head into hospital, they said he was going to be a "Sunday's child" like my father. Except he wasn't.

RedPinkRose · 08/03/2022 21:46

I’m more inclined to believe your mums recollection is correct and the online calendars are wrong.

StrandedStarfish · 08/03/2022 21:48

Why don’t you get your birth records from the hospital? Your mum can also apply for her labour notes from her medical records

MdNdD · 08/03/2022 21:53

I knew someone whose father intentionally put the wrong date down as he was late to the registry office. You had to register the birth within a certain number of days and he didn’t make it to the registry office in time. But they were not in the UK…

FrozenWillow263 · 09/03/2022 00:01

Monday babies are extremely beautiful "fair of face"

I always thought I was a Friday baby until I checked and actually found out I was a Thursday baby. Mother does not speak to me because she's shunning me down to the rules of a cult, so it never occurred to me until I read this. Thursday's child has far to go - travel? I love that idea! Grin

My partner and 3 of my 4 children are all Monday babies. My other was a Thursday baby. So she's travelling as well it seems. My partner's parents, one of his sisters and all of his nephews, barring 1, were all born on a Monday as well. The one that was not born on a Monday was born on a Saturday.

I would just stick with the birthday that is on my birth certificate Flowers

THEDEACON · 09/03/2022 01:47

My aunt who is now 82 celebrates her birthday as per her birth certificate but in reality she was born a day later my Grandfather gave the wrong date at the Registrar's He got something wrong on the certificates of all his children

Whatamess582 · 09/03/2022 05:50

Could have been recorded wrongly. My mother’s was. And so all my life I’ve been confused as to when I should give her her presents/card/phi call. And I’m sure when I was younger it was the earlier date that was wrong and now we are adults she is insisting that it’s the second date that is wrong. However everyone agrees and knows her birthdate on her birth cert is wrong.

Or could she have gone into labour on the Sunday and actually given birth after midnight so technically on the Monday?

If the ‘day’ is wrong then surely the date would be wrong too. Eg if she is sure it was a Sunday 25th but the calendar says 25th was a Monday then weren’t you born on tbe 24th if she insists it was the sunday…. So either way she is forgetting something.

sodastreamer · 09/03/2022 07:38

It's possible that mistakes are made at registration, lots of us have given examples. But the OPs case is different to these because no one in her entire family has ever questioned the date. Everyone, including her mum, clearly believes the date on her birth certificate is correct and they have always celebrated her birthday on that date.

It's only the fact the OPs mum believes she was born on a Sunday that's making the OP question her birthday after all these years. It just seems far more unlikely that not only would there be a registration error in the first place but that everyone would believe the error unquestioningly. It's very different to the examples given on here, where people are aware there's an error, and have an explanation for it, eg someone giving the wrong spelling of a name, or muddling a siblings date.

BusinessMindThoughts · 09/03/2022 09:21

I reckon data error.
Your mum went into labour on a Sunday, as you're (well, I am) more likely to know the day of the week you're on at the moment than the actual date.

Date got written down as the 15th, even though the Sunday had been a 14th. Your mum thought "yes, born on Sunday 15th" and didn't question the actual date.

My youngest sibling was born at home on a Sunday, and I was only young, yet remember my dad shouting out the window to his churchgoing friends! (And I did actually check just now and the day/date checks out!) So even then, Sunday felt like a Sunday, but I would've had no idea of the actual date.

BusinessMindThoughts · 09/03/2022 09:23

It just seems far more unlikely that not only would there be a registration error in the first place but that everyone would believe the error unquestioningly.

Only if someone had ever made the point that the 15th in that month and year had been a Monday. As the years go by ppl aren't very likely to link the day and date much.

CloudPop · 09/03/2022 09:26

My grandmother was always adamant that my uncle's birthday was recorded wrong on the certificate. To the extent his birthday was always celebrated on the "known" day as against the one on the birth cert

Juno22 · 09/03/2022 09:34

The date on the birth certificate isn't different from the date OP has celebrated all her life. The chances of the date being recorded wrong and everyone else remembering the birth date wrongly would be tiny. The only discrepancy is that her mum thinks it was a Sunday rather than a Monday. So almost certainly she is remembering the day of the week wrongly.

user375432 · 09/03/2022 09:43

I think it is entirely possible it was recorded wrong, but it is also a fact that we all have many false and innocuous memories. Just the way our brains store information, and sometimes things can get mixed up. What say was your brother born on? I wonder if it was actually him that was born on the Sunday.

Dinoteeth · 09/03/2022 09:54

Recording it wrong would be one thing but they've always celebrated it on that date so someone would have questioned it at some point - how come her birthday is a Tuesday this year when she was born on a Sunday.

The mums either confusing the reason they were at church if indeed they were collected from church or she laboured far longer than she thinks, meaning Op was born at 12.05 or something.
Could be she's mixed two different events up in her mind.

sodastreamer · 09/03/2022 10:08

Exactly, Juno. We're all agreed there can be errors in registration but the fact most of us know about them shows we've spotted the errors.

user375432 · 09/03/2022 10:13

@Dinoteeth

Recording it wrong would be one thing but they've always celebrated it on that date so someone would have questioned it at some point - how come her birthday is a Tuesday this year when she was born on a Sunday.

The mums either confusing the reason they were at church if indeed they were collected from church or she laboured far longer than she thinks, meaning Op was born at 12.05 or something.
Could be she's mixed two different events up in her mind.

But nobody has their birthday on the same day of the week every year? I do think it very unlikely the date wouldn't be more significant and memorable than the day though.
BiscuitLover3678 · 09/03/2022 10:17

I’m pretty sure she got it wrong. Unless she actually wrote it down. My son is only 2 and I’m already questioning the days now. I actually remembered the date I went into labour slightly differently. Thank god I wrote it down in my baby book so I know for sure!

Dinoteeth · 09/03/2022 10:17

I'm thinking when she was one or two, so only a year on from her birth. If she was born on Sunday you'd expect her first birthday to be Monday, second birthday on a Tuesday. Its not until you hit a leap year it skips a day.

sodastreamer · 09/03/2022 10:24

Given there are 52 sundays in a year but only one of any specific date, it seems odd that anyone would place more significance on a day rather than the date!

Mitzi067 · 09/03/2022 10:42

@possiblyDreaming. Try applying online to NHS (under the freedom of information Act) to obtain your medical records which may clarify the actual birthdate. Once a baby is born, a report is documented from the obstetric Team about the baby, Apgar test, weight, etc. A copy is usually sent to the family GP or the report would have been recorded against your Mother's medical record, for which she could apply online via the NHS online. Lastly, your Mother would have a medical record stored in Archives at the Cottage Hospital where you were born.

TechGuy · 09/03/2022 12:06

I was a Sunday's child - Palm Sunday. Or so my cert, passport and note in my Mum's handwriting say (3 a.m., April 6th). But - the family Bible says the 5th! (and my brothers still wish me Happy Birthday, "by mistake", on April 1st). Soo..... the Sunday's child description fits Smile and the Saturday definitely doesn't as I'm a lazy slob, unless something interests me. An unkind explanation I came up with is that back then our Tax Year started on April 6th (who knows why) and having me as April 5th would give Dad an extra year of Child Tax allowance!