Birth Certificate- why only 1 name?

[Wonderi]

My birth certificate only has my dads name on it.

All of my siblings have both my parents name but I only have my dads.

I asked my parents and they said that my mum was there but they just didn’t put her name on it - which doesn’t make sense.

Does anyone have any ideas?

This was about 33years ago.

How odd. I've not ever heard of a mother not being on the birth cert before. Hopefully you'll get to the bottom of it though!

Very strange. Can you look up the records from then and see what was registered. My mum was in hospital after I was born so apparently my dad registered my birth. Not sure whether my birth certificate reflects that. Or if it's true as the legend is he gave me a name that mum hasn't happy with.

how unusual @Wonderi I'd contact the GRO.

https://www.gov.uk/general-register-office

Thank you for your replies.

I don’t know if searching the records would help because I have the actual BC.

I wondered if my mum was in hospital and maybe it used to be that you had to register them within a couple days of being born or something (I think it’s about 3 months now) but then I’m not sure why my parents wouldn’t just say that.

So is it just blank where it says mothers name?

I would order a copy of the certificate - it’s only about £5 - and see how that comes back (ie, is it just a problem with the certificate you have rather than the central record) and go from there

This may be totally out of line but is there a chance your mum had mental health issues after birth? I ask as my.grandmother was sectioned and my.grandfather had to register my mother alone

Even if the dad registers the baby alone, the mother's name should still be on there. This sounds very unusual and I hope you get an answer!

Sounds like its just an error to me. Its not possible for there not to be a mums name in the section for the mother, unless the mum isnt known at all

The mum is always known, as she has given birth! How odd that she isn't on there. As a married couple, the man can register the birth without mum being there, but they would still put mum's name on. I'm almost certain that's what my dad did 30/40 years ago, and my DH definitely did more recently.

My father registered my birth on his own, but my mother's name is on it. I can't think of a reason the mother's name wouldn't be there unless the baby was abandoned in which case wouldn't it say "unknown"?

The certificate you have is an official copy of the actual register. It sounds as though the person issuing the copy made an error, although it would be highly unusual for them to do so. I would order a copy from the GRO and see what that has on it.

Oh and over 70 years ago my grandad registered my mum's birth and my mum's birth certificate has both parents on it.

Exactly. Countless married men have registered the birth of a baby.

And if the mother of any baby wasn't known, they wouldn't just leave it blank.

My daughter was born 34 years ago so around when you were born, and you had 6 weeks to register the birth. My husband registered my daughter's birth when I was in hospital but my name is on the certificate, there's a space for the mother's name and her maiden name.
Is that space blank on your certificate?
As pp have said, check with the General Register Office to get a copy of your birth certificate, then you'll see if your mother's name is on the actual registered records
even if it isn't on your copy. You can get instant digital downloads of the entry for £3.
If your parents were married at the time you perhaps wouldn't even need to look at the actual certificate, you would need to search the online index to find your entry and if your mother's maiden name is shown in the index that would mean that her name was on the actual register.
I'm assuming after all this you were registered in England or Wales?

Very odd because it’s impossible to be motherless in this country but you can legally be fatherless (eg if conceived by a single mother using donor sperm). I presume this was abroad because it wouldn’t be possible on a full form UK birth certificate

If it was UK it will have been an admin error and you could apply to have it rectified.

If your mother's name is not on the certificate and there are no amendments noted (usually a note in the right hand margin) I would ask the registry office where the birth was registered.

My own DD doesn’t have the fathers name as he refused to be on it (I’ll save that for another thread) and it says ‘unknown’.
I wasn’t allowed to put his name on it without him being there.

But mine says my fathers name and occupation but where it says mothers name and occupation it’s completely blank.

This is probably the 3rd copy of my BC that I’ve had and they’ve all been the same.

I had never really thought about it until a friend said she’d never seen that before.

My mum does have MH issues but I don’t know if she has ever had any hospital stay.
There was also a lot of violence and control between my parents and so both things make it quite difficult to get to the bottom of it, as I don’t know if something happened that they’re not admitting to or they’re genuinely telling the truth.

It is interesting that posters think it would still say her name or say unknown even if she wasn’t there and so it could just be an error.

This was in England and both parents are British.

Even if she wasn't there the Registrar would have needed to fill in your mother's details, it would have been highly irregular and almost impossible to have no mother's details, unless you had been a foundling for example.
How come you've had 3 copies of your certificate?
In the first instance, as I mentioned above, I'd advise going online to the General Register Office and looking up your birth to see if there's a mother's maiden name shown.
When you say you wonder if your parents are telling the truth, about what? Can't you ask her why her name isn't on there?

I’m a couple years younger than you OP and my mum said when I was born and my brother (who is your age) the registrar would come round the hospital to issue birth certificates. So I can’t imagine your mum not being there. Very strange and sounds like an error maybe.

It wouldn’t have been possible to register the birth without her name being given. Why have you had three copies of your birth certificate? Are you sure it actually is your birth certificate and not a fake made by your parents for some obscure reason?

I don't want to upset you but is it possible your father had an affair and you were the result? that your mother accepted to raise you but refused (or was not permitted) to be on the birth certificate and the affair partner didn't want to be on the birth certificate because it could have caused issues further down the line?

I dont have my dad on mine he wasn't there.
My mother put her nick name on it and a complete different surname and gave me that surname.
So yeah thats fucked up im not in the family name and dont have either parent on my certificate.
I must be an orphan.

In 1991 i think you’d have had to have some hospital discharge record - they wouldn’t have taken the word of some guy wandering in off the street and saying the mum is X. And he’d only have authority to register it if it was his wife in any case. It could be that the mother is someone else and the parents have given OP a fake certificate.

But more likely an unusual admin error.

I would say admin error too. The registrar just omitted to complete that section.

Your parents recalled your mother being present but even if she wasn't, the mother's name will always be included unless unknown i.e. baby was a foundling, but even then it would say "unknown" rather than blank.

Errors on birth certificates or changes of name could be corrected within 12 months (at least that used to be the rule - my mum's birth certificate includes an endorsement changing the spelling of her first name). Not sure if that has changed since but it was the case 33 years ago. It looks like your parents never noticed in time or weren't bothered.