To think MN will steam at its collective ears about this?

[Andrewofgg]

There’s a campaign afoot to put mothers’ as well as fathers’ names on marriage certificates.

Our all-wise government is now allowing civil partners to convert their CPs into marriages. Well and good and for an opening spell there will be an introductory offer: no fee. After that it will be £45, still good value.

But . . . the draft regulations have been published and they provide that the parties must give their fathers’, but not their mothers’ names. If father is dead or divorced and mother remarried they can give step-father’s name instead (gee, thanks) but not the other way round.

WTAF? I can see why there might be problems with changing the rules on marriage, although a clause in the next Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill could solve them, but this is a new procedure, ffs, I can see no reason why the names of both parents should not be recorded. Which Ministerial head is up which Ministerial arse?

Our mums were our witnesses exactly so that they were mentioned on the marriage certificate. It is about time that this was equalised either by addition of mothers or removal of fathers.

Yes Ghoul but it won't say that the witnesses were your mothers. Even if they have the same surnames as you they could be your sisters or your cousins. We need to correct the regulations now to include mothers on the same terms as fathers as they do in most other countries.

Unfortunately it will not apply to existing marriages; a certificate is a record of the information collected at the time, and if the mothers' names were not collected, well, they were not collected, and cannot be included on the certificate. It will take decades to be fully effective. Which is why we should start now.